Family Secrets
by Hastur
Summary: All families have secrets. Some graver than others, some more than others. Eventual Jalex. Rated T for themes and mild language. Kelbo is depressed - but why? And what does that have to do with Justin and Alex's undeniable budding relationship?
1. Introduction and Chapter I

A Fair Warning: An Introduction

So, despite having only one other fanfic to my name (And a brief document answering questions), it was such a success that I decided to do another one. Now I wouldn't enter into writing a fanfic without a very good idea, and fortunately I think this is one of the best I've had! Though to tell you why would spoil the ending – you'll have to read and find out for yourself.

There are a few things I will say, however. This story will be a bit heavier in tone, and also have more incest. Those of you who remember my story _Switch and Bait_ will know that although there were hints of Jalex, the only overt mention of such was one sentence at the end – a sentence which was purposely grammatically incorrect so that you could read it one way or another. Technically, it didn't have to be Jalex.

Now the difference between that story and this one is that while _Switch and Bait_ could have been an actual episode (provided you edit out the more obvious incestuous references) while this one is more serious.

If you don't like Jalex, you may not like this story. In fact, you probably won't. However, if you like Jalex tales _except _for the fact that they are siblings and prefer alternate universe stories where they aren't related, I would like to ask you to give a few stories a chance, this one included. I believe that by dealing with the topic of the abhorrence of it along with their struggles, given that they do love one another, presents a sad and tragic tale. I have read a number of times that in some folklore, lovers are reborn as siblings. I believe that you could gain a greater appreciation for the despair and tragedy when they are related. Of course, not all fanfictions deal with this topic fully. I hope this turns out to be one of those that do. I cannot force you to read it, however, and furthermore if you find that you still don't like it even if you do give it a chance, then that is fine. If you do give it a chance though, even if you end up not liking it, I applaud you for keeping an open mind!

"Family Secrets" sounds like a pretty bland and generic title, and probably it has been used before. But it is an excellent title for my story. Indeed, there are secrets, not the least of which is the whole Justin and Alex relationship! Although it plays out in the subtext at first, I think that the readers will find this adequate and possibly even endearing. Their relationship grows, though now I've said too much! Still, this story does warrant the "Eventual Jalex" tag.

It also deserves the T rating. Alex and Justin will have, in this story, a bit dirtier of a vocabulary than they could have on the show. I usually don't do this, but honestly it is more realistic. Of course they won't swear extremely frequently and the words will be kept to a PG-13 standard. (And I believe Alex will be just a bit more of a potty mouth than Justin.)

Now, I have this story outlined already. It has a definitive beginning, middle, and end. Suggestions are welcome, but I'm not planning on deviating too much from the model I have already laid out. Nevertheless, I tend to write sequentially (for the most part), so I will probably be releasing the chapters as they are written. This story is quite different from my previous in that I intend for it to be very structured, and constructed very carefully. Not only is the story as a whole outlined, but I am going to outline each chapter before I begin to write it.

There are surprises in store, mostly when the secret is revealed. I think you'll like it.

In defense of Jalex:

Imagine being Justin or Alex. Imagine teasing your sibling your whole life, yet when it really counts, being there for them. Imagine loving them more than any other family member, possibly more than any other person! Now, realizing that I have so far not even given anything that is not _actually canon to Wizards of Waverly Place _(You cannot deny that most of the episodes seem to be based on Alex and Justin, not the mention the movie!)_, _extend that. When does the teasing become flirting? When does the love stray from familial to romantic? I would say during a time of great duress. How can one love one's sibling in that manner? I don't know, as I am not Justin or Alex. However, I can attempt to guess. Through this story I hope to find a glimpse of their psyche, a portion of their soul that drives them to incestuous thoughts and behaviors. Of course, I provide just one possible notion of why that is.

You know the people in stories who profess to hate one another and are always ragging on each other, but then they end up together? I've always seen Justin and Alex's relationship as pretty much exactly like that. I think Alex summed it up perfectly when she said "I taunt you and I tease you, but you love me anyway" (I paraphrase here for the important parts, of course.) Or as Justin said once, family hating someone isn't like normal hate. In fact, family hate is a form of love, though in the case of these two wizards it is more like romantic love.

In real life of course, sibling incest is abhorrent and for a good reason – the genetic risks involved are immense if you breed. And while that is the only actual risk, we are biologically inclined to not find our siblings attractive. Nevertheless, there is something enticing, even erotic about certain sibling relationships in fiction. For my part, the only sibling relationships I really sympathize with are Justin and Alex and Ryan and Sharpay from High School Musical. But their case is one of twins, which is another situation entirely. Probably the most common form of sibling incest in fiction is that of twins.

But I digress. Justin and Alex are not twins, and in fact their relationship is the better for it. Justin always plays the role of the elder brother, always there to get his sister out of a bind. He is the responsible one, the savior and protector. It's no accident that he is the male and older, because even in a familial relationship the male usually plays that role, even to a sister. However in the show the roles are exaggerated so much that they seem to verge on something more. The show would be entirely different, and I feel not generate as much incestuous fanfiction, were there any other combination of character traits and ages (for example, if Alex were the older one, or if Alex were the responsible one, or even if Alex were older and responsible, because then she wouldn't be in the male role). These are deeply ingrained biological roles for us so it's no wonder we see them the way we do.

David and Selena also have a great chemistry and it is in part their interaction that produces so much fanfiction based on their characters' relationship. However I personally believe that the writing itself is enough to produce a good portion of it, at least once someone points out all the _plot points_ that revolve around Justin and Alex.

Of course the sum is greater than the whole – because of both of these we see more Jalex fanfics than if either had been true alone. The way Selena and David look at one another, the way they touch, the way they hug, as well as the writing of how Justin bails out Alex and how Alex helps out Justin, too (sometimes). It's a wonderful and beautiful combination.

* * *

Chapter 1

There was a phone call one afternoon. It was a normal day, mid-September but not too cool yet. It wasn't even light jacket weather, which Alex found unfortunate because she had just found a particularly cute one at an outlet. And unfortunately for Justin, the day was overcast and he couldn't test out his newest robot, which was a solar-powered vacuuming robot (the oversight was lost on him). Max, on the other hand, had found the perfect thing to do, although no one asked him why he kept getting bubble wrap delivered to the house. (He claimed it was to see what they packed it in.)

The call was from Kelbo's wand phone, yet Theresa was somehow not surprised at the call, despite the fact that he usually just popped in unannounced. (Literally popping in, too, of course. Well, the sound was more of a slight sucking and then a pop, accompanied with plenty of smoke, which always managed to set off the Russo family smoke detectors.) It wasn't around the normal time of year he visited, either, and he didn't often call just to call. After all, when he's a wizard visiting occasionally is just as easy as calling occasionally, and Kelbo adored his niece and nephews. He also got along with his brother fairly well, despite Jerry's insistence that he was a bad influence on the kids' magic lessons. Kelbo did look up to and respect his brother, however, acknowledging him as the better wizard. He was, of course, extremely thankful over getting Jerry's powers even though Jerry had won the family competition. Even though Megan, Jerry and Kelbo's estranged sister, knew Jerry's reasoning for choosing Kelbo, she still hasn't forgiven either of them.

But all that was in the past. On this normal day, when Theresa picked up the phone after seeing who it was on the caller ID, Alex was at the kitchen table not doing homework. She glanced up at her mother, but didn't pay too much attention.

"You'd like to come visit?" her mother was saying in a tone indicating that it sounded like the other party had made up his mind already and was asking permission. "Let me get Jerry," she continued, walking off with the phone to find her husband.

Meanwhile, Justin had walked downstairs. He looked at his sister at the table, and then walked over to it. He looked over her shoulder to see what homework she was working on, only to find, and not to his surprise, that she wasn't focusing on the schoolwork she was supposed to be doing.

"Alex, Aristotle's three appeals aren't a picture of a kitten playing with yarn," he said, smirking as he did so.

"Oh who cares what some dead guy said about rhetorical persuasion," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Ha! You know they're about rhetoric and persuasion!" Justin said, triumphantly. "You do care."

"Justin, it says right here – 'Rhetoric – Persuasion'. I may not pay much attention in school but I can still read."

"Well that's a start," Justin said as Theresa came back into the room. She had hung up the phone and was proceeding to put it back on the hook.

"Hey kids," she said. "Your uncle Kelbo is coming to visit!"

"Really?" Justin asked, excited to see his favorite (and, admittedly, only) uncle. "When?"

"Right now!" said a voice from outside the door. It opened, and in the hall stood uncle Kelbo. Alex and Justin ran over to him, while Theresa called Max downstairs. Jerry was coming upstairs from down in the lair at the same time.

"Uncle Kelbo!" Alex, Justin, and now Max exclaimed as they greeted him.

"Hey, my favorite niece and nephews!" Kelbo said, but his voice wasn't as enthusiastic as they were used to. It was low and somewhat hoarse, as though he had a cold. Examining him, Alex could swear his eyes were somewhat puffy. Either Kelbo had recently developed a meth addiction or he had been crying. Alex didn't know why he would do either one of those and the thought bothered her, but she put it out of her head for now. It wasn't her place to question it. Still, this could have to do with why he called before visiting, and in fact, why he was visiting in the first place. She would have to file this away to discuss with her brothers later. (Well OK, to discuss with Justin – Max wasn't any help.)

She smiled warmly, in that disarming manner only she could. "It's such a pleasure to see you, Uncle Kelbo!"

"You too, kid," Kelbo said as he walked into the loft and sat on the couch. "And what would an uncle's visit be without presents!" He dug into his pockets and pulled out three small brown packages, handing one to each of the kids. They opened them without questioning it.

"Oh, cute!" Alex said as she unwrapped a pair of earrings with a blue gemstone set in them. "I didn't know you had good taste in jewelry, Uncle Kelbo."

"I don't, but... someone else I know does," he explained. "Now those aren't just any earrings. They're listening earrings. They're enchanted with the ear of a bat spell. Makes eavesdropping easier without the unsightly bat ears."

"Best earrings _ever_!" Alex said as she held them up to her ears. Jerry and Theresa exchanged nervous glances.

Meanwhile, Max unwrapped his gift.

"Oh cool, a super bouncy ball!" Max cried. "Is it enchanted to bounce really high?"

"No, watch," Kelbo said, pulling out his wand. He tapped the ball and it started floating. "Zero gravity bouncy ball! Perfect for Wizard Squash."

"Thanks!" Max said, hitting the ball. It zoomed around the room and everyone ducked. It ended up hitting the lamp, knocking it over and breaking it.

"Ay, my lamp!" Theresa cried. So far Kelbo was two for two in troublesome gifts.

Justin took his time opening his gift. He carefully undid the tape and unfolded the crinkled brown paper.

"What are you, saving a lunch bag?" Alex said with mock disgust.

"I like to savor opening it," Justin said as he looked what was inside. There was nothing there.

"Haha, you're Uncle Kelbo's least liked!" Alex taunted.

"Is this what I think it is?" Justin said with awe. Kelbo nodded sagely.

"It was...a friend of mine's," he said.

"What? You guys are getting this emotional over an empty package?" Alex said, confused.

"Alex, if you'd paid attention in class, you'd know that this is an invisible gemstone. It's a magical stone cut in a manner that makes almost all light go right through it, almost." Justin held it up, and if Alex squinted she could just barely make out the shape of a cut gem shimmering in the air.

"Whatever, my gift is still way better," she said.

Justin shrugged. He didn't agree with her, but whatever made his little sister happy was fine with him.

"Can I get you anything, Kelbo?" Theresa said.

"Yes, a glass of water if you wouldn't mind," he replied.

Theresa went over to the sink and got him a tall glass of water. Meanwhile, Jerry sat on the chair that was perpendicular to the couch.

"How have you been doing, Kelbo?" he asked.

"Oh, all right, all right. You know how it goes," he said, glancing at his niece and nephews as he said so. "I'll tell you all about it later, you know."

"Yes, do so," Jerry said, nodding sagely. Alex cocked an eyebrow, but this act went unnoticed. Theresa came back with the water, and Kelbo drank it like he was dehydrated.

"Ah, that's good stuff right there," he said, smacking his lips and wiping his mouth with his shirt sleeve.

"You came just in time, Kelbo," Theresa said. "I hadn't started dinner yet and now I know to make enough for six."

"Thank you Theresa. You know, I'd hate to be any trouble though."

"Nonsense. It'll be easy. It's just fried chicken."

"Oh, delicious," Kelbo said as Alex pinched Justin lightly.

"Ow!" Justin was saying until Alex shushed him. She motioned him and Max upstairs, out of earshot of the grownups. Her brothers followed her until she went into her room, at which point they stopped outside, awkwardly. They usually weren't allowed in her room except for very special circumstances, and they didn't know why right now would be such a case. After all, teenage girls loved their privacy and anything that broke their sanctum was something unwanted. They stood there, looking dumb and wondering what to do, until Alex called them from inside her room.

"Oh would you just get in here!" she cried. Justin and Max shrugged at each other and went in. "And close that door behind you," Alex added.

"What's up, Alex?" Justin said, while obediently closing the door.

"Something's wrong with Uncle Kelbo," she began, pacing her room. "His voice was hoarse. And did you see his eyes? They were all red and puffy, and I doubt he's on drugs, so he was probably crying. Why would he be crying?"

"Maybe he was swimming," Max chimed in.

"And the way he drank that water! All of that says to me that he was crying," Alex continued, ignoring Max.

"Well, that would also fit with the drugs theory," Justin said, also not helping.

"Bah!" Alex cried, throwing up her hands. "You're no help." She sat down violently on her bed, and then lied down as though exhausted.

Justin looked at his sister thoughtfully and chewed his bottom lip for a while. "It's really none of our business, you know," he said at last. "Uncle Kelbo is an adult, even if he doesn't act like it sometimes. You don't like it when we ask why you cry, the rare times you do." He flinched a bit, knowing he probably shouldn't have added that last bit.

"Well I'm a teenage girl, it's what we do! Uncle Kelbo is a grown man, they don't cry without a good reason."

"Maybe he was watching _Field of Dreams_," Max said, continuing to supply his theories.

Justin nodded. "That is a totally legitimate reason for a grown man to cry," he said, defending Max.

"Justin," Alex said, deciding to ignore her brothers yet again, but curious about something else, too. "What was so special about that invisible gem?"

"Well if you'd pay attention in class, you'd know that it's a high energy density storage medium, capable of magnifying magic power. Wizards in the old days used to put them on their magic staffs. They're actually pretty precious and rare."

"It figures you'd get that gift."

"Why, because Uncle Kelbo likes me the best?" Justin said, beaming.

"No, because you're the only one who would care. Nerd. Now, I have a plan to find out why Uncle Kelbo was crying, and you people," (she pointed to Justin and Max) "don't want to know. So shoo, shoo!" she said.

Max left first. Justin followed, glancing at Alex on the way out.

Justin and Max went downstairs to talk with Kelbo for a while. Alex stayed upstairs and thought about how she could uncover what was going on with her uncle. She actually didn't have a plan, yet, but she wasn't about to let her brothers know that. It was strange, to her, that she would be the only one who would be worried about him. It was unlike her to feel responsible, but when it came to people, she said she knew more than Justin or Max. And this was her family, too. Kelbo had to have been crying over something big. Something big enough that he would come to visit his brother over it. And why his brother, anyway? That would be like Max going to Justin for comfort... and it was strange to think of Max as ever being able to be sad! Heck, Kelbo was a lot like Max in a lot of ways, and it was strange to think of him as ever being sad, either. They were both so happy-go-lucky and, well, at times not very bright. It was as though they lived in an entirely different place, a place decidedly out of sync with the rest of society.

She decided to try on her earrings. She went over to her mirror to put them on, and noticed how they really made her eyes pop. They also improved her hearing, just as Kelbo had said they would. And that gave her an idea.


	2. Chapter II

Chapter 2

Justin and Max talked with Kelbo while Alex hatched her plan. They spoke of many things, but not once did either of his nephews see any indication of why he had been crying. Perhaps they were simply not very observant, but to them Kelbo seemed more or less like his normal self. Yet they could not but help keep Alex's assertion in mind. Perhaps they did think, for a moment, that some subtle clues might have been a sign of troubles, but they brushed it off, figuring that they were seeing things that weren't there.

"So I said to him, 'That's no dragon, that's a lizard!'" Kelbo was saying, finishing off a tale of one of his latest adventures. Justin, Max, and Jerry laughed, but Theresa just looked confused. She shook her head, deciding it would be best if she remained in the dark about why that one was funny.

"OK, who's ready for dinner?" she said enthusiastically. "Alex! Come down for dinner!" she called upstairs. She came down straight away for once, much to the surprise of all gathered. They stared at her.

"What?" she said, looking around at the room. "I'm just excited that my Uncle Kelbo is here."

Theresa shrugged. "Whatever brings you to the table quickly."

Justin went over to Alex, and said, in a low voice, his hot breath tickling Alex's ear, "What did you do?"

"Nothing, yet," Alex whispered back. She shook her head slightly, hoping Justin would catch notice of the earrings. He didn't notice them directly, though, and Alex gave up trying to be subtle about it.

"Look!" she whispered louder, pointing at her delicate ears. Justin obeyed, and then he saw the earrings.

"You're wearing Uncle Kelbo's gift? That's nice, I bet he'll like seeing that you appreciate it," Justin replied with complete sincerity. He was nearly incapable of deceitful thoughts, wasn't he?

"The point is that they make it easier for me to overhear things I shouldn't."

"Ah, right. Well you got the perfect gift for you, I suppose."

Alex sighed, but smirked slightly at her brother.

"All right everyone, get your drinks," Theresa was saying. Alex and Justin broke away from one another and got the drinks they would be having with dinner. That was also the cue to sit down as soon as you did so, so they took their usual spots at the table. There was also a spot where guests usually sat, to which Kelbo was directed. Theresa set the plate of chicken on the table and everyone dug in.

"So, you kids have homework after supper?" Jerry asked.

"Hmm, what?" Max said, inanely. "Oh, yeah."

"No, I finis-" Justin began, but then he was kicked under the table. "Mm- actually yes, yes I do," he finished, glaring at Alex.

"Me too, daddy," Alex said pleasantly. Too pleasantly, Justin thought, but apparently their father didn't catch it. Alex was too...cute, sometimes.

They finished their dinner with normal conversation, that which was typical of the Russo household. It was fairly dry, and even somewhat trite, but it was probably better than not talking, or even not eating together. The Russos tried to be a normal family, despite all they had that was certainly not normal. Throughout the dinner, Justin occasionally rubbed his leg.

He wondered, sometimes, about his sister. How exactly did she manage to get what she wanted? All she seemed to have to do was bat her eyelashes, or look hurt and vulnerable. It worked on their father, but Justin had to admit, begrudgingly, it worked on him too. After all, he was supposed to be the protecting older brother, and this was only more apparent after the whole ordeal with the Stone of Dreams on that vacation. They had, perhaps, even been taunting and teasing one another less.

At the same time, Alex wondered about her brother. How could he be so smart and yet so dumb at the same time? Why didn't he see the real feelings of people? It was easy for her to see that Kelbo was depressed, and the more time she spent with her uncle, the more she was sure of it.

Also while this was going on, Max was wondering about snowman reincarnation. But that's just the kind of thing Max thinks about.

After dinner, Alex, Justin and Max went upstairs. As Alex headed to her room, Justin stopped her.

"Why'd you kick me? I thought you said you didn't need me and Max for your plan," he said.

"I'm surprised you got that I wanted you to lie about homework. No, listen," Alex replied, beginning to explain her idea. "I just need mom, dad and Uncle Kelbo to be alone. So they'll talk about stuff. Stuff they don't want us to hear, got it?"

"And you're going to eavesdrop on Uncle Kelbo using his own gift. That seems a bit...disrespectful."

"I'm only doing it because I care! Now keep quiet while I stand at the top of the stairs to listen."

_"Yeah, I have been kind of depressed lately, because of that," Alex heard Kelbo say as she began to listen in. She apparently missed the first part of the conversation – she'd like to know what "that" was. "And it's particularly bad around this time of year, too, you know. But I can't tell you how thankful I am for letting me visit, especially on such short notice."_

_"It's all right, Kelbo," Jerry responded. "Why don't you stay a couple days? You can have the couch."_

_"You sure that'd be all right?"_

_"Yeah, no problem," Theresa told him. She sounded sincere, too._

_"Thanks again. You guys are swell...and you know, this time of year I'm always reminded how you gave up your powers for me, Jerry."_

_"Ah Kelbo, you know I gave them up to be with Theresa anyway."_

_"Well yeah, but you could have given them to Megan."_

_"But Kelbo, you had a good reason to need them! It's really her short-sightedness that she got mad at us for that."_

_"I'll get the sheets for the couch," Theresa said, and began to come up stairs._

__Alex darted out of the hallway and into her room, since she would not want her mother to catch her listening in to her private conversation. Unfortunately, she didn't learn much. She'd already known that Kelbo needed the powers because, and although she loved her Uncle she had to admit this, he was goofy and inane and probably didn't have many other talents. And she'd already known he was depressed, although it was nice to have that confirmed. She could hold that over Justin, at least. But why would Kelbo be depressed around this time of year? And why is it that this time of year is when he remembered that Jerry gave up his powers? Was this the anniversary of their competition? Was he still depressed that he lost? That couldn't possibly be it, since he seemed to not hold a grudge, and if he did he probably wouldn't want to visit. So what could it be?

She wandered out into the hall, seeing her mother in the linen closet. "Oh, hello mother," Alex said, putting on her innocent expression. She'd had the presence of mind to remove the earrings so that her mother wouldn't get suspicious, although Alex found it unlikely that she would think of it, even if she did notice. Still, everyone heard what the earrings did, so Alex wasn't going to take any chances.

"Hey Alex, your uncle is staying the night. Help me take the sheets down?"

"Oh, what a nice surprise," Alex said, still being perhaps a bit too sweet. However, not wanting to act too strange lest her mother finally begin to suspect something, she declined to help with the sheets. "Why don't you get Max to help? You know how much he adores Uncle Kelbo." This was true, made a good excuse for her to not do it thus keeping her from acting odd, _and_ it gave her more time to go bug Justin about how she was right and he was wrong. So she headed toward Justin's room. She didn't even knock as she barged in.

"Geesh Alex, you'd think for someone who loved their privacy you might respect it more in other people," Justin said in a tone that implied he was annoyed. Yet, Alex wasn't sure it was genuine.

"Well normally I wouldn't come in here, but this is important," Alex began. "Though I want you to know that the reason I don't come in here is that it's really, really boring." She looked around at the assorted action figures. Justin had a feather duster in his hand. It seemed like he was dusting his collection. Alex sighed, there was no hope for the boy.

"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I overheard mom, dad and Uncle Kelbo talking, and I was right, he is depressed."

"About what?" Justin replied nonchalantly, going back to his dusting. Alex grumbled a bit. She had been hoping rubbing that fact in would be a little bit more rewarding, but it looked like Justin didn't care enough. She quickly recovered.

"I don't know, I missed that part of the conversation. Beyond that they didn't discuss anything we didn't know already, except for the fact that Kelbo always gets sad around this time of year."

"Hmm, that's odd. Most people with seasonal affective disorder don't get sad until a bit later in the season."

"Seasonal affective disorder? Justin, my women's intuition tells me this isn't a mental thing. Well I mean it is, but it's like, not a psychological problem."

"Well, what else causes emotional changes around certain times of year?"

"Like, if something traumatic happened to them around that time."

"Maybe it's the anniversary of the competition and he's sad that he lost."

"I already thought of that," Alex said, shaking her head slightly. "If that was the case, why come to dad? He's the one who won."

"Well I dunno, Alex. I'm sure there are plenty of reasons. Maybe he just doesn't like raking leaves."

"Justin, he's a wizard! He doesn't rake leaves, he snaps his fingers and turns them into snowballs!" It was true. She'd seen him do it.

"I'm just saying, I'm sure he has his reasons and we should stay out of it."

"Hmph," Alex said. She stood there for a minute, thinking. "You know, he also said that he's reminded, around this time of year, how dad gave up his powers for Kelbo. Maybe it is the anniversary of the competition, but it's not because of the competition that he's sad?"

"Wait! That might be it," Justin said, pausing in his relentless dusting. "Maybe he's sad about Aunt Megan? I mean, it was because of dad giving his powers to Uncle Kelbo that she stopped speaking to them."

"If that's true, Uncle Kelbo is more of a softy than I took him for. Still, you might be right! I'll go ask him," she said, heading out of Justin's room.

"Wait, Alex!" Justin called, causing her to stop and turn around. "It's still none of our business, you know."

"It's our family!" Alex defended. "And plus, I can just tell them I figured it out from how Uncle Kelbo was acting. It's not like they have to know I was listening in on them."

"Alex I – aw, forget it," Justin said. "Your funeral," he mumbled.

When Alex got downstairs, Max was helping their mother lay the sheets out on the couch. Alex knew that she had to breach this subject with utter caution. It was key that she be sensitive and express how much she was worried about her family member's well-being. After the sheets were laid on, Kelbo sat down, and Alex sat down next to him.

"Uncle Kelbo?" she said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"You seem a bit, well, a bit sad," she continued. "I mean, a girl can tell."

"Aw, no, I'm fine," Kelbo said. "That's for worrying though, sport."

"You sure, I mean -"

"He said he's all right, Alex," Jerry said, cutting her off. "Did you finish your homework?"

"Well I – no," Alex replied, looking at the ground. "All right, but you guys would tell me if anything were up, right?"

The three adults exchanged glances for a brief second. The briefest of brief seconds. Alex didn't even notice.

"Yes, of course honey!" Theresa said, coming over and hugging her. Discouraged, but not about to give up, Alex went back upstairs.


	3. Chapter III

Chapter 3

Justin and Max were once again called to Alex's room for a strategy session. They were easy for Alex to manipulate into doing whatever she wanted, each in their own way. For Max she simply had to confuse him, which wasn't too hard, even though he himself was good at confusing others too. The tactic that worked on Justin was essentially the same that worked on their father. Her brother was perhaps a bit too doting, but perhaps he got that from their father. They were similar in a lot of respects, after all, so it wouldn't be too strange.

In any event, the important thing was that it worked. They were both in Alex's room again, listening to her "briefing" as Justin called it. Alex called it "telling her brothers what to do."

"This is going to require snooping, sneaking, eavesdropping and general stealth," Alex began. "But we need to find out why Uncle Kelbo is depressed, what it has to do with this time of year, and what it has to do with dad giving up his powers."

Justin raised his hand.

"Justin, this isn't class!" Alex said. "Just talk."

"Oh, well, um... why should we help you do this?"

"_Because_," she said, as though that were an obvious answer. "You don't want to be against me, now do you?"

Justin and Max looked at one another and shuddered. Their sister, against them, was a scary prospect indeed. They shook their heads.

"Good, that's what I thought. Now I know you too don't possess all the craftiness I do -"

"Well, we're not _criminals,_" Justin interjected.

"- but I still need you to run interference," Alex continued, not letting Justin's comment cause her to miss a beat.

"Oh, I get it," Max said. "We're going to be the distraction. Wait, that sounds dangerous."

"Well that's what you get for not being sneaky," Alex said, flipping her hair slightly. Justin shuddered for a reason he couldn't tell.

"What do you plan to do, anyway?" he asked.

"I dunno yet, but I'm sure that you guys will be instrumental."

"Really? Can I be a saxophone, then?" Max said. Alex blinked and looked at him.

"Yes," she said slowly. "You can be a saxophone, Max."

"Ha! Max the sax! How cool is that!" Max cried. Alex and Justin looked at one another incredulously. Sometimes they didn't understand their little brother. Of course, it didn't seem like anyone understood him, and how _could_ they? He tended not to make any sense even when he was trying, and he rarely ever tried. At least, they didn't think so. Max's thought processes were so alien to them that there's no way they could ever tell. Justin was considering that if he were to win the competition (which he had a good chance at), he might give his powers to Max, similar to how his father had given them to their Uncle. Alex had finally convinced Justin that magic was _not_ the only thing he was good at, and that he could probably do anything he wanted even without it. Of course, this was in one of their rare moments of vulnerability, honesty, and emotional stress, during their vacation and the Stone of Dreams ordeal. Alex, for her part, also probably didn't _need _magic, Justin would argue. She was resourceful and very bright in her own mischievous and manipulative manner. Still, he hadn't asked her if she would give up her powers for Max, since he preferred to keep their touching moments to a minimum. There was something strange and uncomfortable about them, especially lately. Surely she felt it too and would agree, and since she indeed hadn't initiated any such conversations Justin had to assume that she did feel the same way. Fortunately she also hadn't gotten into much trouble lately, so Justin didn't have to help her out of anything.

Alex and Justin both shrugged, figuring that they might as well keep Max happy if it didn't hurt, and it certainly didn't seem to. At least there was that much: Max was easy to please. He's a simple man with simple tastes.

"So, anyway, my first thought is to snoop around for evidence," Alex explained.

"Oh! I'll look in mom and dad's room!" Max offered, running out of Alex's room. Justin and Alex didn't even try to stop him, it was useless to try and tell him that he wouldn't find anything there.

"OK Alex, even if we are snooping, how in the heck would that help us find out why Uncle Kelbo is depressed? It's not like he keeps notes that say 'Oh I'm so depressed that Megan isn't talking to us anymore.' I mean maybe, if he kept a diary, but Uncle Kelbo doesn't seem like that kind of person," Justin said.

"I dunno, maybe we'd find empty bottles of anti-depressants," she shrugged.

"But I thought you said this wasn't a medical problem."

"Well no, but I mean, that doesn't prevent him from trying to medicate anyway."

"OK, maybe not, but that still wouldn't tell us why he was depressed."

Alex clucked her tongue in thought. "Hmm, but it would give us more of a case if we were to present a united front in demanding to know why Uncle Kelbo is depressed."

"Oh please, Alex," Justin said, scoffing somewhat. "They'd be more mad that we went through Uncle Kelbo's things than anything else."

"Ha! You said we, you're officially in this," Alex said.

"Damn it, you always catch me with that one," Justin said. Alex smirked and stuck out her tongue. Her tiny, pink and moist tongue. Justin shook his head.

"But you're right," he said. "He is family. And it would be nice to actually be told what's going on."

"Well since we can't seem to count on Max, I suggest that you go bother Uncle Kelbo while I go through his bags. It's a start anyway," she said, turning to go out of the room.

"All right. But um, what should I say?" Justin asked after her.

"Geesh Justin, you're the smart one, you figure something out,"

Justin left and headed downstairs to distract his Uncle. He wasn't sure he could be sneaky like Alex, but he knew that he could keep up an intelligent conversation, unlike Alex. So hopefully his intellect would make up for the few areas in which Alex outshone him. That was always his plan, after all.

"So, Uncle Kelbo, how did you come upon that gem, anyway?" Justin said once he was downstairs.

"Well," Kelbo began, thinking about it and scratching his chin. "Like I said, it once belonged to a friend of mine. She inherited it through her family, passed down for generations of wizards."

"Shouldn't it still be in her family, then?"

"Well.... she didn't have kids," Kelbo explained. "But since I had nieces and nephews she decided to give it to me to hand down in my family, you see."

"Well that's cool! But shouldn't you have given it to whichever one of us wins the competition? Unless you think I'm going to win, of course."

"It's a distinct possibility," Kelbo admitted. "But I think that I can trust you to do the right thing with it."

"Thanks! Hey, think I should build it into a staff?"

"Sure sounds like a good project. What kind of wood were you thinking of using?" Kelbo asked, beaming at his nephew.

"Rowan or ash, I figured. They're popular staff woods, with useful magical properties."

"Where are you going to find those?"

"A wizard supply company. I've been doing research on the World Wide Wiz Web, you know," Justin explained, forgetting entirely that he was distracting Kelbo and actually just holding the conversation he wanted to now. "I can get a good deal on rowan or ash lumber if I buy in bulk, I just don't know what I'd do with all that wood."

"Well hey, if you used some to practice with, you could make a couple staffs and sell the extras."

"Hm, yeah, I guess so!" Justin was now getting excited at the prospect. "I mean, most of them wouldn't have gems, at least not unless I sold enough to buy more gems for them. And none of them would be as good as the one you gave me, of course."

"Yeah, but you could probably make a couple nice staffs with quartz, and that's not too expensive. Don't you have royalties from the Helping Hand spell?"

Justin licked his lips in financial calculation. "Yeah, but that pretty much covers the cost of the lumber. I wouldn't have enough left over for quartz crystals."

"Well you should practice making them without the crystals first anyway. Do you know the staff spell?"

"Yes, but I've never had a chance to cast it. You're right, I would need practice that, too."

"Hey, I might have one you could practice on in my luggage! Where'd I put that, anyway?"

Suddenly Justin remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He didn't know how Alex got Kelbo's luggage out from under his very nose, but apparently she had. Nearly panicking, Justin knew he had to get Kelbo to _not_ look for his luggage.

"Aw nah, that's OK," he said, trying to keep his cool. "I mean, I'm sure we can do that later. For now I really wanted to hear about the latest political scene in the Wizard Council."

"Ah, Councilman Phillips proposed an addendum to bill 193. Have you heard of bill 193?"

"Yeah, that's the one that wants to extend protection of magical creatures to prevent dragon hunting."

"Right, well Phillips wants the addendum to allow members of ancient tribes who have always depended on dragon hunting for their way of life to continue their practices. Well, you can guess how that went over with Councilwoman MacKenzie! Their dispute broke out into a fist-fight, which Councilman Stone had to break up!"

Justin and Jerry laughed, and once again Theresa was out of the loop.

"What's so funny about that?"

"Councilman Stone is a gargoyle," Jerry explained. "As such, he's the physically strongest."

"Oh. You crazy wizards and all your species."

"Hey, Stone is lucky, though," Kelbo went on. "You know it wasn't until recently that they even let gargoyles be Council members. Heck, they still don't allow elves on the bench."

"That's a tricky one," Justin said. "I mean I'm against racism and everything, but elves kind of have an unfair advantage there."

"Yeah, no one knows how to deal with it. Hey, now there's how you could make a bunch of money. Come up with a way to resist the charms of elves. And babies, puppies and pizza while you're at it."

They talked for a little while longer about the current state of wizard affairs. As usual there was a group of radicals trying to get the ancient "one wizard per family" rule repealed, but were making no headway. Another group wanted to free the dragons in the magic plants, and rely on background magic as their power source from now on, which of course is far less powerful.

After a bit, Kelbo suddenly looked up and saw his luggage.

"Oh, that's where I put it," he said, standing up and walking to the other side of the room where his luggage was. Somehow, Alex had gotten it _back_, too. And she was standing at the bottom of the steps now, beckoning Justin to come up. Justin excused himself and went with her.

They went into her room once more and Justin reflected that he'd never been in there so much as today. Max was still off doing whatever he was doing, though, so Justin and Alex were alone. She shut the door and turned to her brother. As she turned, her hair brushed Justin's nose, tickling it, and he noted that her shampoo smelled nice. Then he wondered why he was standing so close, and took a step back.

"So what'd you find out?" Justin asked.

"Nothing!" Alex cried, dejected. She sat down on her bed. "I spent all that time looking through his luggage, but it was just the stuff you'd expect him to have! Clothes, kit of wands, an old staff, and a bunch of magical gags. Dammit, we're never going to find out at this rate."

"Unless Max found something."

"Ha. Very funny," Alex said wryly.

"Just trying to lighten the mood," Justin mumbled.

"Hmph. It's getting late and I still don't have my rhetoric homework done. Say, Justin," she said, turning on the cute. Her voice became high pitched and raised at the end. Justin didn't even bother to wait for what she was going to say.

"Fine, fine, I'll help you," he said, sighing. She smiled, licked her lips, and got her homework from the desk.


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter 4

"So, what did you and Uncle Kelbo talk about?" Alex said after Justin finished helping her with her homework, which mostly involved Justin telling her what the three types of rhetorical persuasion and her writing down what he said. She kept the kitten with the ball of yarn, though.

"Oh, we talked about making magical staffs, and then we discussed the latest political scene with the Wizard Council," Justin explained.

"Wow, you're such a nerd. Sometimes I swear I'm not related to you," Alex said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, is that any way to treat someone who just helped you with your homework?" Justin returned. "If I weren't a nerd, where would you be?"

"That's true, I guess," Alex said, letting out a small sigh. She didn't care so much. She knew that she could get him to help her again. Her father was not the only male Russo she had wrapped around her finger.

"On the other hand, perhaps I should take that as a compliment," Justin said, smirking.

"Yeah, there you go, it was a compliment. Whatever helps you sleep at night," Alex said smiling back.

There was an awkward silence. Alex didn't want to shoo Justin out of her room, and while Justin felt like he should, he also felt like he didn't want to, as though there were some unfinished business between them, but neither of them could even acknowledge to themselves what it was.

"I suppose I should go, then," Justin said at last, almost despondently.

"Wait, no, you don't have to," Alex said as Justin left. He paused in his exit, chewed his lip a bit again, and turned around slowly.

"Oh?" he said, trying to sound casual, but his voice cracked a bit as though he were nervous. Perhaps he was.

"I have plenty of mockery left if you want to stay and hear it," Alex said defiantly.

"Right. Nah, I think I'll pass. G'night," Justin said. This time he left. Alex frowned slightly, feeling almost as though she had done something wrong. She couldn't tell what, though, but it was getting late, so she began getting ready for bed.

Elsewhere in the apartment, everyone else was also readying themselves for bed. Even Max, who had finished with his probably fruitless snooping. Justin brushed his teeth and Alex stood outside the bathroom, annoyed at his hogging of their shared space.

"Sheesh Justin, no wonder our dentist likes you the best," she said as he flossed.

"There's nothing wrong with healthy teeth and gums," Justin said while also trying to keep his mouth open. Alex sighed yet again, though this sigh wasn't of exasperation, more of amusement. Justin's quirks were somewhat endearing. At least sometimes, and Alex certainly wasn't going to tell him that. Still, she had an affinity for her older brother. One for which she didn't hold for Max. Oh, she loved Max, but Justin was someone she could always count on to be there for her.

Why was she thinking along these lines, anyway? She supposed that something about Uncle Kelbo being depressed, she realized how important family is to her. How would she react if Justin were depressed? That rarely ever happened. Justin, while certainly not the paragon of emotional stability, was nevertheless a rather happy person. It was something she liked about him (begrudgingly admitted, of course).

As Justin came out of the bathroom, Alex felt her eyes beginning to water. "Justin?" she said, her voice cracking this time.

"Hmm? Are you all right, Alex?" Justin's voice showed genuine care and concern.

"You would tell me if you were depressed or anything, right? I mean, like, I know I tease you a lot but I love you anyway. You know that, right?"

"Of course. I would come to you with anything, probably before mom and dad," Justin said, soothingly.

"Really?"

"Well yeah, you'd be less likely to be mad at me for anything. You'd come to me, wouldn't you?"

"I already do," Alex said, smiling through her somewhat teary eyes.

"Get some rest, I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning," Justin said. "Good night, I love you too."

Alex wiped her eyes on her sleeve and smiled. Then she went into the bathroom and brushed her own teeth (though not as well as Justin brushed his, of course). Justin was right. Things always looked better in the morning. Except Alex. She thought she looked terrible before she prepared herself and she wouldn't let her family, especially not Justin, see her like that.

As she crawled into bed she felt oddly at peace with things, as though Justin's assurance that things would be better in the morning was a positive omen.

Indeed, things seemed brighter the next day. When Alex came downstairs (after a _minimum_ of face-washing, hair-combing and tooth-brushing), she saw the rest of her family having eggs and toast for breakfast. This included Kelbo, who looked like he was in a much more chipper mood this morning.

"Good morning sunshine!" Kelbo said with a hint of irony in his voice. Alex was _not_ a morning person and she let everyone know it.

"Merrh," Alex mumbled. She was surprised she could even manage that much. Did school have to start at the ungodly hour of eight? Really, she'd like school a lot better if it started at, say, noon. And went to about seven. Would that be so much to ask? She couldn't wait for college, when she could pick her own class schedules.

"Hey Alex!" Max said, excitedly and way too loud for this time of day. Alex rubbed her ears and held her head, reminding herself never to drink because if she were this bad without any alcohol, who knew what a hangover would do to her. "Guess what! Uncle Kelbo is taking us to the zoo after school today!"

"Oh, lovely," Alex said, trying to sound sincere but quite obviously failing. "Um, aren't we a bit old for the zoo?"

"Oh come now, Alex!" Theresa said, chidingly. "You're never too old for the zoo! You can read all the plagues and learn about all the lions and tigers and bears!"

"Oh my."

"Besides which," Kelbo said in his slow but meaning manner. "I'm taking you to the _wizard_ zoo."

"You are?" Theresa said, as though this were news to her.

"Yeah, I mean, how many times can you go to the normal zoo, even as monkeys, before it gets dull? Nah, I want the kids to see the unicorns, manticores, hippogriffs, and dragons!"

"Dragons!" Justin exclaimed, as excited as Max had been. Alex rubbed her temples. "What kind?"

"Oh, all kinds! I mean, they got your wild Burmese miniatures, and your Serbian giants, and your Western European Firedrakes!"

"Wow, those would be awesome to see," Justin said with a far-off, dreamy look in his eye.

"Justin, we already have a dragon dog, what's so special about these dragons?" Alex said.

"Well, the dragon dogs are domestic Burmese miniatures," Justin explained. "It's kinda like how wolves are certainly not pets. And Western European Firedrakes are giant, noble beasts! I can't wait to see them."

"Justin, I know I just said it last night, but you're a nerd," Alex said, though she was smiling strangely as she did so.

"Thanks," Justin replied, smiling back. Theresa looked at the kids and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"I hope we get to see the firedrakes being fed," Max said. "They devour whole goats! How cool is that?"

Theresa looked disgusted, but the rest of the family thought it sounded awesome.

"All right, all right," Theresa said, beginning to clear plates. "It's about time for you guys to get ready for school."

Justin, Alex and Max went upstairs and picked up their book bags, which was just about all they had to do to finish getting ready. They had staggered their showering schedule to prevent too many people from waiting for it – Justin preferred showering in the evenings and Alex took hers in the mornings. (And who knew when Max bathed?)

On the way to school, Alex talked with her brothers about Kelbo some more. She was sporting her new earrings gifted from their uncle, and Justin actually noticed them this time.

"So, what are we going to do about Uncle Kelbo being depressed?" Alex asked.

"He didn't sound too depressed this morning," Justin said. "By the way, are you wearing those earrings again?"

"Yes. What's it do you?"

"Nothing, they look good on you," he said.

"Oh _really_?" Alex asked, not sounding convinced that Justin wasn't setting her up for a burn.

"Yeah, they distract from your face."

"Ha. Now pay attention! We have to make Uncle Kelbo happy."

"But Alex," Justin said, getting more serious. "You can't just make a person happy. I mean, he's acting happy, what more could we do?"

"Well, we'd have to get at the cause of his unhappiness, really," Alex said, frowning slightly, which caused an adorable furrow in her brow.

Justin tried to ignore the effect of her frowning. "But we tried that, and to no avail," he said.

"Have we tried everything though? If we haven't found out yet, we haven't done enough."

"If you put half this effort into your school work, you'd get A's, I swear," Justin said.

"We haven't tried a spell," Alex said. "Is there a spell to learn secrets?"

"Not that I know of, offhand. Then again, why would I know such a spell?"

"Well, we'll have to look it up when we get home," Alex said definitively.

"Um, I'm not sure I want to be part of this."

"It's too late, you already agreed earlier. You might as well help me because if I'm caught I'll implicate you anyway."

Justin grumbled a bit.

While this was all going on, Max was humming a tune, pretty much blocking all this junk out. He didn't think his uncle seemed too upset to him, and if he were he'd have to feel better after going to the zoo. It's the zoo, right? How can you feel sad after going to the zoo?

"Max, what's that tune you're humming?" Alex asked.

"Hmm? Oh, right. I forget the name, something about things not being as they seem."

"Huh. Sounds strangely familiar," Alex said, frowning. Max shrugged.

"Oh, by the way, did you find anything in all your snooping?" Max asked. Alex realized she'd never told him about the lack of any information she was able to glean.

"No, I didn't find anything," she admitted.

"That's too bad," Max said absently. "Did you ever figure out what that box was?"

"Huh? What box?" Justin asked.

"Oh wait, I didn't tell you guys. I found a box in mom and dad's room, in dad's sock drawer."

"And what was in this box?" Alex asked, beginning to lose her patience with her younger brother.

"I dunno, I wasn't able to open it," Max said. "But I can show you guys after school today."

Alex began to look hopeful once again, but Justin shot her a warning look.

"Alex, we have no way of knowing that it has anything to do with Uncle Kelbo and going through it would be a breach of politeness. I mean it's dad's sock drawer, after all, it's his thing, not Uncle Kelbo's," Justin said.

"But what if it does have to do with Uncle Kelbo?" Alex said, looking at him in a manner that denoted severe sadness, as though she were grasping at anything that might help her in her cause.

"OK, but if we find that it doesn't have to do with him, we'll put it back and never speak of it, right?" Justin said, already giving in.

"Right!" Alex said, looking much more elated. Justin knew he probably shouldn't have agreed to that, but what could he do? He couldn't stand to see Alex sad.


	5. Chapter V

Chapter 5

"Hey Alex!" Harper yelled excitedly as she saw her friend in the hall once Justin, Alex and Max got to school. Alex rubbed her ears again. Maybe these earrings were a bad idea.

"Harper, do try to keep it down," Alex said. "I have the ears of a bat today."

"Ears of a bat?" Harper said more softly. "Like that magic thingy, with the words, what do you call it?"

"A spell Harper, and yes, like that one."

"Huh," Harper said, examining her friend's ears. "They don't look like bat ears."

"Well see, these earring," Alex said, pointing to the blue-gemmed earrings. "Are enchanted to give the effects of the spell without making my ears look funny."

"Oh, nice! You'll be able to hear everything!"

"I know, right? I'll be able to eavesdrop on all conversations around me, without even trying. They were a gift from my Uncle Kelbo. He just has the best gifts!"

Alex suddenly realized that she should probably tell Harper about what's going on with her uncle. Not that she expected her to have any great insights, but it was nice to be able to tell her friend about things.

"Oh, Harper. My Uncle Kelbo is depressed."

"Depression can be serious, Alex. Did he talk to a psychiatrist?"

"I dunno. I mean, I don't think this is a medical thing, I think it was caused by something, you know?"

"Well maybe, but even in that case seeing a professional therapist can be beneficial to one's emotional well-being. My parents went to a marriage counselor, you know, and look at them."

"Oh yeah, how are they doing?"

"Well they're still together and that's pretty impressive!"

"OK, well... see Harper the thing is that he's not even telling us he's depressed. I overheard it with the earrings."

"But you didn't overhear a reason?"

"No, I only know that it has something to do with this time of year, and possibly something to do with how my father gave up his powers. At least, he said that this time of year he always gets depressed and he always remembers how dad gave up his powers to Uncle Kelbo."

"Yeah, why didn't he give them to your Aunt Megan, again?"

"Well, dad said Uncle Kelbo's life would be a travesty without them. And I mean, you've met my Uncle Kelbo. He's...a bit off," she said, looking at Max who was in the hallway attempting to stand on his head. No, literally. He was trying to flex in such a way that his feet were on his head, with his head lying on the ground. And thus far he wasn't having much luck with it. "Think Max, only with much more powerful magic and a little bit older."

"And more mature?"

"Wish I could say so, Harper. Really wish I do," Alex said, opening her locker, stuffing her books inside and taking out a small packet of sugar, which she opened and poured into her mouth.

"Huh, but I don't think people like that get depressed," Harper said, ignoring the sugar deal. She had long since given up on Alex's strange habit. "Or I didn't think so. I mean, I guess it could happen to anyone."

"Yeah, that's the scary thing," Alex said, chewing the sugar slightly. She licked her lips and swallowed. "Because you never think it's going to happen to you, or someone you know."

Just then the bell rang, signaling the beginning of school. That meant there were only a few minutes until first period.

"Is that the first bell or the second?" Alex asked casually.

"The first. We should probably get to class."

"Oh shoot," Alex replied. "I can't believe I'm that early. Ah well, might as well follow you."

Alex and Harper went off to class. The day began to pass rather uneventfully for Alex, Justin and Max, though perhaps more so for Alex and Justin. Max always managed to find fun in anything he did, even if he weren't trying.

Around fifth period, Alex was walking through the hall without Harper. They had different classes next. Seeing that she was separated from the pack, GiGi noted, using her keen hunter's instinct, that now was the perfect time to strike.

"Hey Alex!" she called out loudly to make sure everyone around her could hear. Alex cringed, as she was still wearing the earrings. "Do you still sleep with your Hello Pony blankie and nightlight?"

"I never used a nightlight!" Alex snapped.

"Oh, just the blankie then?" GiGi replied, laughing.

"I thought we went over this, GiGi. No one cares." And indeed, it seemed that no one was really listening or caring. GiGi frowned.

"Whatever," said the antagonizing girl. "I'm still prettier and more popular than you." She walked off, leaving Alex behind. Alex didn't let it get to her, but then she passed another girl who was whispering something, and thanks to her earrings she heard it all.

_"That poor Alex! I don't know why GiGi picks on people with no friends. I mean, I know Alex is kind of weird, and she only has that weird friend, but that's no reason to be mean to her," _the girl was saying to her friend.

Alex tried not to let tears well up in her eyes again, but it was failing. She try to get away without looking like she was getting away, and sat on a bench in the hall. By now the corridor was clearing out, people were getting to their classes, and Alex no longer tried to hold in her crying. The tears fell silently.

"What's happening to you, Alex?" she said to herself. "You used to be so strong."

Serendipitously, Justin walked by carrying a bathroom pass while Alex sat there. He saw his sister sitting on the bench, crying. He had heard, earlier, the remark by GiGi, but he was surprised that she was so upset by such a badly formed insult.

"Hey Alex, are you all right?" Justin said, sitting down next to her. "Did GiGi upset you that much?"

Alex wrapped her arms around Justin for the comfort.

"No, it's not GiGi, it's just that I heard another girl saying I was weird and had no friends except for Harper, who was also called weird. Justin, is that what people really think of me?"

"I dunno, I mean, sometimes they compare you to me."

Alex shot him a warning glance, but didn't remove her arms.

"I mean, they're always telling me how I'm not as much fun as you, and how I'm too uptight."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and most of the guys who talk to me about you are just trying to get me to introduce them to you because they think you're hot."

"Well that's not surprising," Alex said, smiling a bit. She put her head on Justin's shoulder, and it was beginning to make him uncomfortable for a reason he couldn't quite understand.

Just then they heard footsteps coming toward them, and they bounded apart, but not quickly enough. Mr. Laritate was coming.

"For one thing, you kids should be in class. For another, public displays of affection are -" he stopped when he saw who it was, and that Alex was crying. This was a bit embarrassing – a brother was just trying to comfort his sister and Mr. Laritate had thought it was something else. He coughed nervously and anxiously.

"Er, I mean, I didn't think you were – I wasn't implying. Well anyway, shouldn't you be in class?"

"Yes Mr. Laritate, we'll get right back there," Justin said, glad that he didn't seem too angry about their situation. "Come on, let's go," he said, pulling at Alex's hand. She stood up, and then they both walked off to their respective classes, but not after looking at one another and smiling.

"Well that was awkward," Mr. Laritate said to himself.

After school, Alex looked much happier, and Justin was exceedingly glad about this. He didn't tell her so much, though, because he felt that he'd had enough tenderness for the week packed in just these two days. He smiled at her though, and she smiled back.

"All right," she said to her brothers. "Let's go see what this box Max found is."

They walked home. Alex was bounding, almost excitedly, and Justin and Max had to increase their strides just to keep up. She was clearly much better, Justin thought, and he smiled at this.

When they got home, Alex rushed upstairs.

"Alex, where are you going?" Theresa asked her.

"Um, important work I gotta do. Justin needs to help me," she said, coming back down the steps and dragging Justin up behind her. Max followed, because no one really questions his actions with much sincerity.

Alex pulled Justin into his own room.

"What are we doing here?" Justin asked.

"Well we need some place to look at this box, and my room is a mess right now," Alex responded. Justin shuddered at the thought of her room being messy enough that she didn't want them to see it, given how bad it was when they were in there. "Where's Max?" Alex continued.

"Right here," Max responded, coming into the room holding what Alex assumed to be the box. It was about eight inches wide by four inches long, and three inches deep.

"I haven't been able to open it," Max explained, setting the box on Justin's desk.

"Well no wonder, it has a latch," Alex said, unhooking the latch and beginning to open the box. Justin placed his hand on top of Alex's to stop her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. For a moment Alex looked flushed, but then her normal color returned.

"\We have to know, Justin," she said, pushing his hand out of the way and opening the lid. Inside were many assorted pieces of paper, folded up. She picked one up and unfolded it.

"It's a letter," she said, reading it.

_Dear Sweetheart,_

_How have you been? I have just been lost without you! I can't wait until the day I see you again, but I know how hard it is, since we don't want to arouse any suspicion. Things have been going well here, other than the normal problems, of course. Don't worry about me, though, I can handle it. I hope that you're not too stressed with your own problems, but you've always been a strong man, so I just know that you'll be all right. Hang in there and maybe some day we'll be able to run away together. My love for you only grows with the days we're parted. _

_Your Honeybunch_

"Oh my God," Alex said. "Is dad having an affair?"

"Alex, how do we know those aren't old letters _from _mom? That one, at least, wasn't even signed with a name."

Alex shook her head. "No, I know mom's handwriting well. This isn't it." Her brothers looked at her. "What? How do you think I forge notes?"

Justin sighed. "Either way, it looks like this doesn't have to do with Uncle Kelbo, so we're going to put it back like promised, all right?"

"What? Justin, we have to do something! This is serious... and maybe it does have to do with Uncle Kelbo. Maybe he's upset that dad is having an affair!"

"Come on, Alex, even if dad were having an affair, how would Uncle Kelbo know? And besides, if he did, visiting dad doesn't make much sense in that situation. Plus, these letters look old," Justin added while leaving through them. "Maybe they're just from an old girlfriend."

"Even if they were, it's still weird and alarming that he's kept them. There's no way mom knows about this. We have to look through them for more information!"

"Alex, no," Justin said. "We should probably just leave this alone. I mean, maybe we should keep on the look out for suspicious behavior, and you're right that this is a serious business, but..." he looked at her helplessly.

"What? What could possibly keep me from trying to keep my family from breaking up?"

"Alex, I think that reading them would just upset you more. You might do something rash," Justin said, softly.

Alex was slightly calmed by his remark. He was right, reading about the love another woman had for her father wouldn't be the best thing for her right now, especially with Uncle Kelbo being depressed and what that girl had said today. There was no way she could handle the emotional stress, at least not right now.

"OK... then you read them!" Alex demanded of her brother. "You're smarter anyway, you'll probably be able to learn more from them."

"Alex, I can't. It's just not in me," Justin said, shaking his head sadly.

"Please," Alex pouted. "For me?"

Justin sighed and looked at the box on his desk.

"Maybe. We'll see," he said quietly. Alex smiled slightly.

"Thanks. You're making the effort," she said as she began to leave.


	6. Chapter VI

**A.N. In a previous chapter I named two minor characters after MacKenzie Phillips. I do not know why, because she's hardly ever on my mind. But I had a vague recollection of her from "So Weird." Anyway, I just learned, as you may have, that she was previously involved in an incestuous relationship with her father. What a hilarious coincidence! **

* * *

Chapter 6

"Alex, wait," Justin said, grabbing her arm gently as she began to leave. He didn't stop Max, who also left, and once he did, Justin let go of Alex's arm and closed the door. Alex looked at Justin inquisitively.

"We need to talk," Justin explained.

"About what?" Alex said slowly.

"About this thing. Between us."

"I don't... I don't know what you're talking about," Alex said, averting her eyes and looking at the floor awkwardly.

"Something awkward has been growing between us since the vacation. Haven't you felt it too?"

"Justin," Alex said, still avoiding his gaze. "It's been going on a lot longer than that."

"So you have noticed it!" Justin said triumphantly. Alex looked at him, a fear or anxiety in her eyes that Justin couldn't place.

"Duh, before you did! But I mean... what is it, exactly?"

Justin's stomach did a nervous flip. He wasn't about to admit what he was about to admit, was he?

"I dunno, just sometimes, lately, it's felt like you aren't my sister."

Alex blinked in surprise. "W-What do you mean, Justin?" Her voice sounded weak and small.

"I don't know. I mean, I still love you, like a sister, but... I dunno, this sounds stupid. Never mind."

Alex placed a hard on Justin's arm, and Justin really wished that she hadn't.

"It's OK Justin... I think I know what you're going to say and I won't be mad."

"Alex, I think I'm becoming..attracted to you." There, he said it. No going back now. There was absolutely no way she had seen this coming. She was about to laugh at him, thinking it was a joke. Hopefully. She might scream and run out of the room. She might tell their parents and they'd force him to get psychiatric counseling. He hadn't expected what she did say.

"Ha! I knew it. And I won, because you admitted it first!" she said with a devilish (but cute) smile on her face and a gleam in her eyes.

Justin snorted and looked indignant. "It figures you'd use this moment of weakness on my part to hold one over on me." He looked at the floor, himself. Then he realized something and suddenly looked back up at her. "Wait, what do you mean first?"

Alex's grin disappeared and she looked frightened once more. "Dammit!" she said. In her elation at 'beating' Justin she had forgotten to disguise her own feelings. "OK, so, maybe I'm kinda attracted to you, too."

"But this is weird! We're siblings. You're my sister!"

"I know, but, didn't you just say that sometimes you don't feel like I am?"

"Yeah, I know... why are we attracted to each other, then? It shouldn't happen. There are..." he waved his hands vaguely and helplessly. "Things against it!"

"Laws?" Alex supplied helpfully.

"Yeah and like, biological things, too. It's just not done, it's..." He wanted to say it was abhorrent and vile and contemptuous and disgusting and depraved and wretched and a hundred other adjectives. But looking at Alex, he couldn't bring himself to imply that _she_ were any of these things. His expression softened.

"Those are nice earrings," he mumbled.

Alex laughed. "Earlier today you said they were nice because they distracted from my face, and now you say you're attracted to me," she pointed out the irony. But Justin didn't think it was ironic at all.

"I meant it!" Justin cried suddenly. "Because if I look at your face, I can't bear to think that you're my sister." He looked at her square in the eye, with a new fire, and put a trembling hand up to touch her cheek. She gripped his wrist but didn't move his hand, and they stood there, staring at one another, for what seemed like ages. Then Justin leaned in, ever so slightly, shaking all over. When Alex didn't pull away, he came ever closer to her face. Still convulsing he gingerly planted a very chaste kiss on his sister's lips.

"You're such a nerd," she said.

"Well I get nervous around pretty-" Justin began, but wasn't able to finish the statement as Alex grabbed his head and forced her mouth onto his, locking him in a much more passionate kiss, the likes of which Justin had never experienced before. Suddenly her tongue was in his mouth, and he had certainly never done that before. He wasn't even sure what to do, but he let instinct take over.

After enough time passed that they had to break for a breath, they both stared at each other, wide-eyed and panting.

"What did we just do?" Justin said.

"I...I don't know. It just... I don't know. It kind of happened, didn't it?"

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry Alex, that was so inappropriate of me!" Justin said in a loud whisper, terribly frightened with and mad at himself. "I never should have..."

"Shh," Alex said, placing a finger over his lips. "It's OK, I wanted it just as much as you did." This may have been untrue, but at least, if it were, it were untrue in the manner that Alex wanted it more.

"But we're siblings!"

"I know."

"We're related!"

"I know."

"You're my sister!"

"I know, I know!"

"I'm your brother!"

"Dammit Justin, I know! I'm just as confused by all this as you are!"

Justin noticed that he was still holding onto her, his hands wrapped around her and placed on her back. He removed them and let them lay loose at his sides, as though they had offended him and he needed to cut them off.

"What, what do we do know?" Justin said, still shaking all over. He sat down on his bed because he felt that if he stood any longer, he'd collapse. Unhelpfully, Alex sat beside him, much too close for him to calm down.

"We can't tell anyone, obviously," Alex said, tossing her hair. She smiled at him. "But I kinda wanna keep this thing between us."

"Really," Justin said in a tone that wasn't even a question.

"I kind of like it. I mean, I like you, Justin." She kissed his cheek softly and he blushed even further, which he didn't think was possible.

"My God... I thought it was just me. I thought maybe I was just, I dunno. Seeing things that weren't there."

"No," Alex breathed, shaking her head. "I don't know what or how it happened either, but somewhere, all the teasing became more like... I dunno, flirting?" she said, almost cringing that she was admitting to flirting with her brother.

Justin nodded. "I guess I can kind of see that now. I didn't before... I just knew that I felt really close to you after the vacation."

"I know, that was definitely a turning point. I dunno, like where I started to think seriously about what it would be like."

"What what would be like?"

"This... thing. What we just did. Being with you." She slipped a hand into his and noted that his palms were sweaty. He was clearly as nervous as he'd ever been, and for good reason, probably.

"We can't carry this on, can we?" Justin asked, sounding like he was hoping Alex would convince him they could.

"I don't see why not. We always loved each other, we just weren't quite sure how." She laid her head on Justin's shoulder. She was making it really hard to do the right thing.

"But but but but but -"

"Hmm?"

"You know that sibling relationships aren't legal like, anywhere."

"Well we'll have to find someplace it is. No matter how distant."

"And they're forbidden in all the major religions."

"For God's sake, so is eating pork! Justin, for once in your life, don't you want to do something against the rules?"

"I want to, but...if we got caught..."

"What, you're not willing to face the consequences?"

"That's just it! If we were caught, they'd take you away from me!" he cried, with tears in his own eyes, as he looked at Alex. She looked at him and smiled sadly.

"That's the sweetest thing you've ever said." She snuggled into his chest. "Not that you've had much to top," she made sure to add.

So this is what it was going to be like. Despite loving him, she was going to be the same Alex who teased him constantly. That was perfect, and Justin wouldn't have it any other way. He smiled, feeling the most fulfilled he ever had in his life.

"Um, we probably shouldn't spend too much time wrapped up like this," Justin said, noticing that Alex was cuddling up to him,. She couldn't help it. He was so warm and soft. "I mean, we wouldn't want anyone to get suspicious at us being in here alone so long, for one thing."

"Oh come on, this relationship isn't even on their radar. They'd never suspect anything."

"Well for another thing, they might suspect something if they walked in on us like this."

"That's true," Alex said, unwrapping herself from her brother and wondering to herself when she got so clingy anyway. It wasn't really like her to like cuddling that much, was it? She chalked it up to all the emotional stress she'd been under lately.

"Come on guys!" Max called from downstairs. "Uncle Kelbo is about to take us to the zoo!"

Alex and Justin had almost forgotten about that, and they were glad that he hadn't come up to Justin's room to tell them that. Justin looked almost as though they _had_ been caught.

"Don't be like that," Alex said. "We don't want anyone getting suspicious."

"You're right. Hey, this is kinda like our first date," Justin said, giggling demurely.

"Yeah," Alex said slowly. "Let's not call it that. And don't laugh like that, that's creepy."

"Sorry," Justin mumbled.

At the zoo, Justin kind of wanted to hold hands, but he knew that they couldn't. Plus, Alex would probably roll her eyes at the prospect. Plus, there were a lot of cool things to see at the zoo.

"Ooh!" Justin said, running up to the huge fence that protected them from the Western European Firedrakes. There was another fence hundreds of feet from the first tall fence, just to keep them from being able to breath across to the span. Justin put a coin in a binocular viewer to get a better view of the impressive beasts. "Oh, _Draco Ignis Serpentis_", he said.

Alex smiled and rolled her eyes, but she had to admit that she found it adorable. It was one of the things she begrudgingly had to accept that she really loved about Justin, how excited he got over learning, how he could find a trip to the zoo a wonderful experience. She'd never really dated a smart guy before, but it was endearing.

"Hey Alex, do you want to see the dragons?" Justin said, offering his viewer. Alex smiled at him and looked at the dragon. It was a beautiful beast after all, she realized, and she could see why he liked it so much.

"Justin, it's amazing!" she said, noting the scintillating scales glimmering in the dimming sunlight. It was a golden-green color, and smoke curled up from its nose.

"Didn't you slay a wild firedrake once to get Merlin's hat?"

"Yeah, but it was a young one. How old is that one?"

"Oh, he's probably a good 4000 years."

"Amazing. What's he doing in captivity?"

"I don't know. I read that one of the specimens they have had its wings broken, and it never healed, so it couldn't fly anymore."

"That's so sad. Such a...majestic creature, doomed to the ground. I think I'm going to paint one," Alex said.

"Really?" Max said. "But I thought they naturally came colored."

Alex and Justin chuckled.

"I dunno," Justin said to Alex in a low voice as they came back from the wizard zoo. "I still don't think Uncle Kelbo is depressed."

"True, he didn't seem to show anything. I want you to read through those letters and report back to me."

"All right. Um, should we synchronize our watches or anything?"

"Ugh, just go!" Alex said, though she smiled as she did so.


	7. Chapter VII

**A.N. Alex was exaggerating when she said that all major religions banned the eating of pork. I'm surprised no one called me on it, because Christianity doesn't. And the Russos are likely Catholic (as I made apparent in my other, though unconnected, story.) **

* * *

Chapter 7

Alex took out her sketchpad in her room. She had already "done" her homework by making up some junk that sounded like it might get her 70% and that was more than good enough for her. She still had to give Justin time to peruse the papers, and she was sure he would look through them very carefully. After a while, though, she couldn't really bear it any longer, and she was pretty sure Justin had had enough time.

She knocked on Justin's door with her sketchpad in her hand. Justin opened it, and seeing her there he couldn't help but smile.

"Have you come for help with your homework again?" he asked.

"No, I just made up some stuff. I wanted to show you something," she said, coming into his room. Justin wasn't sure whether to close the door or not, since he didn't want to do anything suspicious in his new relationship with his sister. Or was it a relationship? Alex had said that they could carry this on, but he wasn't sure if they were boyfriend and girlfriend or what. In any event, his reasoning was thus: Usually Alex wasn't in his room, which was suspicious enough, except that she did get help with homework from him sometimes, so that might allay it. He felt like leaving the door closed might seem suspicious, but then leaving it open might make people wonder why he had it open, as though he were trying to show that he had nothing to hide.

As he stood there, wondering what to do, Alex decided for him as she shut the door after herself and sat down on Justin's bed, flipping open her sketchpad. She found the page she wanted and showed it to Justin, who walked closer to it to see what it was.

On the page he saw a beautiful firedrake, a fairly detailed sketch of the one that they had seen earlier today.

"Wow, it's... it's the second most beautiful thing in here," Justin said, grinning sheepishly.

Alex rolled her eyes. "What did we talk about you trying to be smooth?" He looked apologetic. "It's OK, just don't let it happen again," she said, getting up and placing a small kiss on his lips.

"Now," she said, settling back down, getting comfortable on the bed. "What did you find out about those letters?"

"Oh right, the letters," Justin said, collecting himself. "Well, not too much, unfortunately. None of them say that they're to dad, they're all addressed with affectionate nicknames. They're all signed with affectionate nicknames too, for that matter. But I did figure out that the writer's father didn't want her, I assume it's a her, to marry a man without his wizard powers. I got the sense, from the letters, that the whole thing was very secretive."

Alex nodded. "That seems to imply it's a wizard woman, possibly carrying on an affair with our father after he gave his powers to Uncle Kelbo."

"Hmm, but he gave his powers to Uncle Kelbo for the sole purpose of marrying our mother. It doesn't seem likely that he would have an affair with a wizard woman immediately after that."

"Unless it wasn't reciprocated, though in that case, why keep the letters?" Alex thought out loud.

"Well, we have no exact time period for these letters, you know. What if she were merely warning him about if he lost his powers in the competition? It could have been from back when he was little older than I am."

"Also possible. Any indication that they were growing further apart in the letters? Maybe dad broke things off with her before the competition?"

"Actually no. I couldn't put them in exact chronological order, of course, because they weren't dated, but they all seem to speak of the hope-filled day that they'll be able to be together."

"And there weren't any clues as to who it was?"

"Not too many. It seemed that the writer's father was a wizard of power or wealth in the wizard realm."

"You would think that would be easier to track down. Do you think you could do research on prominent wizard families and find if any of them have a daughter about dad's age?"

"That could be a good lead!" Justin cried excitedly. "I'll look that up later. Oh, one more thing," he added. "One letter mentioned Uncle Kelbo. Well, it said 'How is your brother doing? He was always a good guy.' I find it odd that she didn't ask about our estranged aunt."

"Did you just...actually use the word 'estranged' in a sentence?"

"Well it's technically accurate, I mean she is-"

"I don't care, dude," Alex said, laughing. "You're still a huge nerd." She smiled at Justin though, to let him know she still loved him. "But like you said, I'd be nowhere without you." She got up once more and hugged her brother/boyfriend. Justin kind of wished that she would kiss him again. He would kiss her, but he was still a bit too nervous.

Alex sighed. She could read his body language well. "Yes, you can kiss me," she said. He gave her another small and ginger kiss. They held each other for a little bit after that, and Alex reflected how it didn't actually feel much different from how she felt when Justin held her before they had admitted feelings for one another. It had always felt this right, she just hadn't always acknowledged it to herself.

After that, Alex broke the hold and went over to her sketchpad, which she had laid on Justin's bed. She tore out the page with the drawing of the dragon and gave it to her brother.

"I want you to have this," she said. Justin took it and pinned it up on his cork board above his desk.

"Thanks! It really ties the room together," he half joked. But it was a lovely picture, done with solid, thick lines in pencil on a very crisp and clean sheet of paper.

"OK. I've done my homework, have you done yours?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, why? It's not like you to care."

"No, but you do, but if you're done with your homework, then you can do something else," Alex said, smirking at him and looking at him suggestively.

"Ooh, I see what you're getting at," Justin said, returning the gaze. "You want me to start compiling the list of powerful wizard families with daughters around dad's age."

Alex nodded sincerely. "Exactly. Do you know how you'll do that?"

"The information is fairly commonly found on the World Wide Wiz Web. I can probably look it up on Wizkipedia."

"Excellent. Since I'm done with my homework too, do you want help with that?"

"All right, get the wizard computer from the lair. I'll open up a spreadsheet on my computer," Justin said, booting up his mundane computer. (Duo Core 2.8GHz CPU, 8GB DDR RAM, 2 500GB HDD, a 3D video card with 1GB onboard RAM, in other words, not top of the line but decent enough.) Alex left to get the wizard computer from the lair. As she came up, her father saw that she was carrying it.

"What are you doing with the wizard computer?" Jerry asked.

"Wizard research," Alex said with complete honesty.

"You, doing wizard research? Are you feeling all right?" Jerry said jokingly. Kelbo laughed.

"Actually Justin is," Alex admitted. "I'm getting the computer for him."

"Wow, you must owe him one or something."

"Yeah. That's it. I owe him one," Alex said, rushing upstairs in order to end this line of questioning.

* * *

"Ugh!" Alex said after about an hour of working on the research. "Why do powerful wizard families have so many kids?"

"Well, they want to make sure that the wizard who becomes the family wizard is very powerful so that they can pass on the family name. If they only have one kid, he or she gets the powers by default, but if enough kids compete for the powers, then the likelihood of one of them being more powerful is higher, and the competition forces everyone to really try, and study, and the most powerful kid wins. Usually, of course. Or sometimes the most clever, which is just as desirable."

Suddenly Alex was gripped with a fear she hadn't considered before.

"Justin, what if one of us wins the competition, and let's face it, our competitor is Max. One of us won't have powers, and then they won't let us be together."

"Um, Alex? There's kind of a bigger reason we can't be together."

"Oh, right. The whole sibling thing. So how many of the 100 most powerful wizard families have a girl about dad's age?"

"Eighty-nine within five years of his age."

"Hmm, I think it would be closer if they were communicating before the competition. Dad would have been younger, little older than you, and in that case one usually only dates people within about three years," Alex reasoned.

Justin shook his head. "If it were before the competition, she probably wouldn't have had to hold it in secret. The father would have probably waited until after the competition to forbid any relationships, and dad was a shoe-in for victory. I mean he did win, after all. And again, if this was before the competition, what would have broken them off?"

"Dad meeting mom, maybe?"

"Yeah... but that still leaves the question of why he still has the letters."

"Oh, Justin, cross reference them by families who would be likely to not let their children give up their powers!" Alex suggested, excited at her insight.

"That would be, oh, _eighty-nine_ of them. Remember, wizards can be terribly bigoted. Even our own family has a history of anti-giantism."

"Oh, right," Alex said, despondently. "Of course I'm not anti-giant," she mumbled. "My best wizard friend is a giant."

"Yeah. Hugh's real Normous, all right."

"Wait, Justin! You're stupid!"

"What? You know as well as I that Hugh is -"

"No, not that! If they were in communication after the competition and she's about dad's age, and her father wouldn't let her be with someone who didn't have his wizard powers, doesn't that imply that she won her own competition?"

"That's brilliant!" Justin said, walking over to his computer where Alex was acting as the typist, and hugging her from behind. "Why didn't I think of it!"

"'cause like I said, you're stupid."

"Shush now, and move over," Justin said, pushing her out of the chair slightly. "I can sort these columns by winners, and," he clicked a bit and then typed a bit. "There, done! Fourteen of those women won their respective competitions! I bet that it's one of them!"

"Fabulous deductive work, Velma."

"Now what do we do with this knowledge? We can't exactly approach all of them and say 'Are you or were you having an affair with our father?'"

"Hmm, well, maybe we could..."

"I think that's a bad idea, Alex."

"Can we eliminate any of the others?"

"Well, one passed away, but that's all they said. Unless dad's mistress or previous lover passed away and he kept the letters to remember her by? That might be a possible explanation, so we can't even rule her out. But, you know, they don't have biographies listed for all of them. And it's not like the bios would say 'Oh, she was having an affair with Jerry Russo.' I mean they might, but only if it were commonly known. This likely isn't – unless mom does know about it and they haven't told us. Why would she put up with it, though?"

"I don't know," Alex said. "Justin, this is all so stressful. Maybe we should tell mom."

Justin thought about that for a bit. "You know, maybe we should. There's a time when we can no longer handle things by ourselves."

Alex hugged Justin for his comforting embrace. "And we still need to find out why Uncle Kelbo is depressed," she said.

"It'll be OK," Justin said reassuringly.


	8. Chapter VIII

Chapter 8

After a little while, Justin broke the embrace.

"So you're in agreement? We should speak to mom about the box with the letters?" he said.

"Yes," Alex replied. "I mean, they didn't say much about Uncle Kelbo, but this is a whole different situation."

"When should we do it?"

"Well, not right now. She and dad and Uncle Kelbo are all downstairs. How would we get her away without being suspicious about it?"

"Very true. So we should wait for the opportune moment. What should we do now?"

Alex stuck out her bottom lip. "I'm not sure. It feels strange to do _nothing_, when so much is going on that we should be doing something about."

"About which we should be doing something."

"Huh?"

"I was rephrasing your sentence to not end with a preposition. I mean I know it's not technically a rule but it's a convention and -"

"Whatever, bah!" Alex cried, throwing her hands up in the air.

"I just mean that grammar is an important aspect of the communication in a language, and without it we would -"

Justin was interrupted a second time. This time it was from Alex grabbing him and kissing him with a new force. He melted as he began to kiss back, his entire spiel about grammar forgotten. She darted her tongue into his mouth just ever so slightly, and this was a sensation with which Justin was still relatively unfamiliar. He reciprocated the action, their tongues caressing one another.

All too soon, Alex pulled away. Justin fell back on his bed.

"Huh. If I'd known that would shut you up I'd have used that trick a lot earlier," Alex said.

"Really? Like how much earlier?"

"Earlier _today_ at least. No, I don't really know," Alex said, sitting on the bed next to Justin. "I don't really know how long my attraction to you has been growing," she admitted.

"Nor I mine for you," Justin agreed. "I mean, I know I said that it was really after the vacation that I started noticing this thing between us, but like you said, it's been there longer than I'd known." Justin rolled over on his side and faced his sister. She lied down and faced him, likewise.

"This is really weird," Justin said. "It's just...surreal."

"I know, and it's only been a few hours. But it's good weird, right?"

"Yeah, definitely good weird."

"Oh crap," Alex said, suddenly bolting up. "Harper."

"What about Harper?"

"Well... she likes you so much, me dating you just seems a bit like betraying her. But we can't even tell her to see if she would be OK with it! What are we going to say? You're just unavailable with some mystery girl?"

"I've been dodging her advances for a while now," Justin said. "I think I can handle it."

"All right, if you insist. Still, I feel kind of bad for her."

"I know," Justin agreed, looking at his hand awkwardly. "I never loved her the way she loved me, but I do like her."

"Do you think we could tell her? I mean if we swore her to secrecy? She hasn't blabbed that we're wizards yet, after all."

"She'd be heartbroken, though. Who knows what she'd do after that."

"True." Alex sighed. She didn't know what to do about her best friend, now that she was dating the boy her friend liked. Not to mention the whole incest thing, mustn't forget that.

"We may have to figure it out later. OK, I guess we should just go about our usual routines now, then? What were you going to do tonight?"

"I was hoping that my rowan would have come by now. I was going to practice making magic staffs."

"I was going to paint that dragon. But I want to be with you, at the same time," Alex said, frowning.

"Don't worry Alex, I'll always be here for you."

"I know, but with everything that's going on," Alex said. "I'm just... I dunno. I need you right now. I always have, really," she added in a soft voice.

"Well, what if you set up your art supplies in the garage with the lathe? We could both work there."

Alex shook her head. "I dunno. It's not like me to be this clingy. I think I'll be OK, I am a big girl. Do you wanna check for your rowan?"

"Yeah, I do," Justin said. "All right, should we reconvene later, then?"

"Yep. I'm going to go paint," Alex said, leaving the room. As she got to the door she paused and looked back at Justin, and smiled.

"What?" he said.

"Oh nothing," she responded, grinning, and left to paint her dragon.

Justin, for his part, went downstairs and checked the wizard mail. Unfortunately, his package of rowan wood hadn't yet arrived, so he went into the living room with Kelbo, Jerry and Theresa.

"So your rowan hasn't come in yet?" Kelbo asked.

"No, not yet," Justin said, shaking his head and taking a seat by Kelbo. "Hey though, could I see that staff now?" Alex didn't need to go through his luggage for any purposes at the moment, so he felt it would be safe to pursue an interest of his own right now.

"Sure thing," Kelbo said, standing up and getting his luggage from a corner of the room. He reached inside and fiddled around until he found the staff. When it was pulled out, it was considerably longer than the bag, thanks to extra-dimensional storage space.

"Wow! What wood is this?" Justin said, taking hold of the sturdy stick.

"Ash."

"Really? It doesn't feel much like ash."

"Well it's specially treated and prepared to be sturdier and firmer," Kelbo explained. "How is the wood you purchased treated?"

"It's not," Justin said. "I knew I'd have to do that myself. Do I do it before or after turning the staff, though?"

"Oh, with magic staffs you treat the wood after you turn it on the lathe, but before casting the staff spell, mind you."

"Oh right, the staff spell! I wish I could practice it," Justin said, looking at Kelbo's staff of ash.

"Well you can. I can disenchant this staff, then you can enchant it with the staff spell."

"That sounds awfully bothersome for you, though."

"Nonsense! This isn't my good staff anyway, I left it at home."

"Really? Well in that case I'd love to try it."

"All right then! Jerry, want to join us?"

"Sure. We can use the lair, too," Jerry said, walking down to the aforementioned room. Kelbo and Justin followed. This left Theresa alone in the living room.

"Finally," she said to herself. "A break from all the wizard talk." She sat down to watch some professional wrestling.

* * *

A bit later, Alex came down and saw her mother sitting by herself, watching TV.

"Where's dad, Justin, and Uncle Kelbo?" Alex asked.

"Oh they're in the lair working on some magic thing," Theresa said dismissively. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you went down, I just wasn't interested," she explained.

"Oh, no, actually, I wanted to talk to you. Alone," Alex said, figuring that now was her chance to tell her mother about the box. Luckily Justin had provided the perfect distraction. She wasn't sure if he would be mad that she was going on with the plan without him, but she wanted to do it as soon as possible and now was a possible time.

"What is it?" Theresa asked, turning away from the television and ignoring it.

"OK, you might want to sit down for this," she said.

"I'm already sitting. What is it? Are you pregnant?" Theresa's tone indicated that she was joking. Her daughter only had a healthy interest in boys her age and she never did spend a lot of time alone with them.

"What? Why would you even – wait, that's not the point. No, this is something else." Alex inhaled slowly. "Let me preface this by saying that we were only trying to help Uncle Kelbo and it's really Max that found it, not me or Justin."

"What are you talking about?" Theresa said, confused.

"We found a box in dad's sock drawer. Full of letters."

"You were in dad's sock drawer? Why were you looking through his stuff?" Her tone was harsh and strict.

"It was Max! We don't know, he just thought that it would help Uncle Kelbo somehow because I still say he's depressed and I don't know and – and the point is," Alex said, trying to calm herself down. "There were letters from a mistress or old girlfriend or something."

"Oh. Those." Theresa's voice fell flat, no longer showing any emotion one way or another. "Don't worry about those. I know about them. And your Uncle Kelbo is fine. And if you don't mention it again, I won't punish you."

Alex bit her lip.

"OK, but what about Justin? And Max, of course," she added hastily.

"I won't punish them either. Spread the word about not mentioning it, though." Theresa turned back to the television, ignoring her daughter. Alex sneaked downstairs, not wanting to rock the boat any more than she had but also wanting to talk to Justin about this.

"Hey everyone," Alex said as she came downstairs into the lair, where Kelbo and Justin were listening to Jerry talk about staff enchanting.

"No no," Jerry was saying. "For ash you typically cast the wood-hardening spell before the magical attuning."

"Wow, enchanting staffs sounds boring."

"Oh it is!" Kelbo said, looking over at his niece. "But you know, you can't be a powerful wizard without a staff and the best way to get one is to make it yourself."

"So, like this?" Justin said to Jerry as he waved his hands in a certain pattern and muttered some words in Latin that Alex didn't catch. (Of course, Alex is barely passing Spanish.)

"Hey Justin, I think I need your help with a bit of homework that I'm not quite getting," Alex said. "Mind if I borrow him for a bit?"

"Whoa, Alex asking Justin for help. Must be really difficult," Jerry said, shocked that she would admit to needing help, especially from Justin. Little did he know how often she actually asked for help.

"Sure," Justin said, getting up and following her upstairs. They quickly ducked past their mother, Alex pulling him up the steps before he could talk to her. They went into Justin's room again, and Alex closed the door.

"So what homework was it?" Justin asked, innocently. Alex rolled her eyes.

"I didn't really need help with homework, dork. I needed to tell you that I told mom about the letters while you were distracting dad and Uncle Kelbo."

To her surprise, Justin didn't seem mad at that.

"Good plan, taking the opportunity. How'd she react?"

"She claimed she knew about them and then told me not to mention it again. She also told me to tell you and Max not to mention it. And she said she wouldn't punish us for going through dad's things if we don't bring it up."

"That's...weird."

"I know!" Alex said, flopping onto Justin's bed. "Things have been weird around here lately. Uncle Kelbo. The letters."

"You and I dating," Justin added.

"Yeah, that's pretty messed up too," Alex said, giving a dry chuckle. "But at least I can deal with the last one." She grabbed Justin's shirt and pulled his lips into hers. Justin sat down on the bed too.

"Do you feel like we're going too fast?" Justin said between the fervent kisses she was now placing all over his face.

"No," she mumbled, though her mouth was too busy for it to really come out very well.

"OK, good, just checking," Justin said, returning her kissing. Suddenly, an idea came over Alex, and she climbed into Justin's lap, straddling him, one leg on either side of his waist.

Now, neither Justin nor Alex had ever had a very physical relationship with anyone. The first time Justin had a girl's tongue in his mouth was when Alex kissed him earlier, and even Alex had never had enough alone time with a boy to sit as close as she was with Justin now. But it felt so right that she began a deep, passionate kiss, which Justin returned while rubbing her back.


	9. Chapter IX

Chapter 9

Theresa, upon seeing Alex and Justin go upstairs, watched them for a while. When she heard Justin's door close, she assumed that they were inside and made her way down to the lair, making sure to close the door behind her as well.

When she got down into the lair, Kelbo and Jerry were through with academic talk, since Justin wasn't there, and they were discussing the wizard sporting world. They broke from their discussion on seeing Theresa.

"What's up?" Jerry asked. Theresa rarely came into the lair, so she must have a very good reason.

"They found the box," Theresa said flatly. Jerry's face transformed instantly. He was now frowning and looking as concerned as Theresa did.

"What box?" Kelbo said, looking confused. Theresa inhaled.

"You tell him," she said.

"Kelbo... I know this is going to be hard for you – but it's the box of the letters from your wife."

Kelbo also frowned and then shook his head.

"No, it's OK. I mean, it's because of her I visited you guys anyway. It's not like she hasn't been on my mind."

"I know, Kelbo, I know," Jerry said comfortingly. "But I know you didn't want the kids to find out about that."

"Yeah," Kelbo said, squirming uncomfortably. "I mean, if they knew... it'd change everything. Their perceptions of me. Of themselves." A tear came to his eye. Jerry placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey now, I know the whole story and I don't think less of you."

"Ha! You couldn't think less of me, you're my big brother."

"They're your family too. I'm sure they'd understand."

"I just... don't want them to know. It's still hard for me, you know?"

"I know Kelbo, I know," Jerry repeated, sighing. "Well, what are we going to do about it? I mean, what are we going to tell them? What'd you tell them, Theresa?"

"I said I knew about them, but not to worry about them, then demanded that they not speak of it or I'd punish them for going through your things."

"Well that sounds...reasonable. What are they going to think though?"

"Well, we all know that the letters don't explicitly mention you or Emily," Theresa explained. "Right now they think they're either from a mistress or old girlfriend of Jerry's."

"Did you correct them on that point?" Jerry asked.

"No. What could I say?" Theresa said. "I said I knew about them and not to mention them, that should be enough."

"This is all my fault you know," Kelbo interjected, hanging his head. "If I hadn't come here, depressed, as Alex had properly guessed... I dunno. Do you think she knows about Emily?"

"She might begin to conjecture due to the content of the letters. We'd better get that box back, you know," Jerry said.

"Oh yes, definitely," Theresa agreed.

"I'd bet that the wizard research they were doing earlier was related to that," Kelbo mused. "Who knows how much they know, really..."

"Yeah, they are resourceful – with Justin's intelligence, Alex's craftiness, and Max's... I dunno, he's so crazy sometimes it works," Jerry said, chuckling.

"Shit," Kelbo said, forcing the word out between his teeth. "Alex has those ear of the bat earrings. I bet she was listening into some of our conversations. Ironic, really."

"Actually, you know Alex – it's not really that ironic at all."

"No, I mean, it's ironic that I didn't see that, of all things, coming when I chose that gift for her!" Kelbo chuckled, and Jerry had to join in to relieve some of the stress of the gravity of the situation.

Theresa pulled Jerry aside and up the steps a little way.

"Jerry, I think we should convince Kelbo to tell the kids," she whispered.

"I was thinking the same thing, actually," Jerry whispered back. "But how are we going to get him to agree to that?"

"You're his older brother, he looks up to you."

"Do you think that angle would work?"

"No, I just don't want to be the one to bring it up."

"Gee, thanks. It's nice to know you support me."

"I do support you! Just, you know, from behind."

Jerry sighed and walked back down the steps. Kelbo gave him an inquisitive look.

"Listen, Kelbo – neither of us think we should keep the truth from the kids forever. They're old enough to know, don't you think?"

Kelbo looked around the room, avoiding looking at Jerry or Theresa.

"I know they're big, tough kids," he said after a bit. "But that's just the thing – I'm not! I don't want them to know how weak I really am."

"They'll _understand_, Kelbo," Jerry said, coming over to him. "Losing your wife isn't something you can just shrug off."

"I know, but I didn't just lose Emily – we lost our sister, too."

"It was Megan's choice to stop talking to us, Kelbo, you know that."

"Yeah, but if you had given the powers to her, she wouldn't have. And I still wouldn't have held a grudge."

Jerry smiled slightly. "I know that, but don't you see that that makes you the better person? You even had a better reason to stop speaking to us if I had given them to Megan."

"I know. You gave up your powers to me so that Emily and I could be together as much as you gave them up so that you and Theresa could be together. Dammit though, if Emily's father had just let her give up her powers for me," Kelbo trailed off, a silent tear running down his cheek. "Well... she still would have died. Maybe if it weren't for me loving her then she wouldn't have married me and she'd still be alive today."

"Don't talk like that! You know that the cancer wasn't your fault! It was no one's!"

"I know, I know," Kelbo said hastily. "But sometimes it just doesn't feel like that, you know?"

Theresa hugged Kelbo warmly. "I know, but you can't blame yourself," she said. "Now don't you think that it might be a beneficial part of the healing process to tell the kids the truth?"

"The whole truth? Won't they think I'm weak?"

"I'm sure they'll forgive you for what you did. I think they'll see that it all worked out for the better, in fact."

"You're right. I know you're right, and even though it doesn't feel like it's right, I'll trust you and go along with it. Let's tell the kids."

Jerry and Theresa smiled.

"I'll go get them," Theresa offered as they all went upstairs. Theresa continued up further, headed for Justin's room, while Kelbo and Jerry sat on the couch.

Theresa opened Justin's door, beginning to say "Kids, we need to talk to you," but as soon as she opened the door, she was greeted with a shocking sight. Justin had bounded away from his bed, but it was pretty clear that he had been lying on top of his sister, who was in her underwear.

"_Dios m__í__o!" _Theresa cried.

"Mom, we were just -" Justin began, but then realized that there was really no good reason for his sister to be lying half-naked on his bed with him on top of her. Wait – maybe she was suffering from heat stroke and he was trying to revive her? No, that didn't even make any sense. Especially not in the middle of September. Justin frowned.

"I think I know _what_ you were doing, or something close to it," Theresa said gravely. "I just can't believe it! Young lady, put on some clothes," she added. Downstairs, Jerry and Kelbo exchanged a very confused look at hearing this, because Theresa had said it rather loudly. "Now come down stairs, we need to talk about this!"

Justin had a pained look on his face. "Oh shit, this can't seriously be happening," he whispered to Alex, as they followed their mother downstairs.

Theresa came down, looking as angry as she ever had, and Justin and Alex followed her timidly, holding each other's hands for comfort, though when Theresa shot a glance back at them they let go. Even Alex looked scared, and Justin felt like he could throw up any minute.

"You'll never guess what I caught the kids doing," Theresa cried at Jerry.

"Going through our stuff again?" he asked, though from his tone it didn't sound like he thought that was it. He hoped that was it, but he didn't seriously expect it.

"No! They were... I think they – Alex was lying naked on Justin's bed and -"

"I was wearing underwear!" Alex interjected.

"_Almost_ naked," Theresa corrected, growling. "And they were carrying on like a couple of dogs in heat!"

"We were just making out!" Alex cried, but then realized that this didn't sound much better. Justin gulped anxiously.

Jerry began to look stern too, though Kelbo for his part merely looked bewildered. "Is this true? You're siblings for God's sake!" Kelbo cringed as much as Alex and Justin did – he apparently felt like he was caught in the middle of something that wasn't his business. "That's disgusting! Depraved! What on earth could cause you to do something like that?" Jerry continued yelling.

"We love each other!" Justin said, standing protectively in front of Alex. "Morals be hanged, we know what we want!"

Despite the gravity of the situation, Alex managed to think Justin was a huge dork for cursing something by wishing it to "be hanged." But she appreciated that he was standing up for their relationship – it was something she hadn't expected of him. She grabbed his hand, giving it an affectionate and supportive squeeze. It was unlike Justin to even _break_ the rules, especially such a big one like this, needless to mention that he was actually defending his breaking of the rules. Then again, Justin usually followed the rules because he thought that they provided a good way to live, and perhaps he just didn't agree with this one.

"It's blasphemous! And against _nature_," Theresa cried, throwing up her hands. "Worst of all you went behind our backs, betraying an implicit trust that you wouldn't – well I can't even say that there was an implicit trust that you wouldn't _date _each other because who the hell expects siblings to do that! _Híjole! _"

"Well, you never made a rule against it," Alex said. Justin clasped his hand over her mouth, while Jerry and Theresa looked like they strangle her.

"I don't even know where to begin on an appropriate punishment," Theresa said, sighing and sitting down heavily. Just then, Max appeared at the top of the steps.

"What's going on?"

"Alex and Justin were making out!" Theresa cried, hoping to humiliate them even more as part of their punishment. "And we're thinking of their punishment."

"Oh," Max said as though it were no big deal. "I don't see the fuss. They're only cousins."


	10. Chapter X

Chapter 10

Everyone stood, staring at Max, wearing different forms of shock and disbelief on their faces. Alex was about to say "What are you talking about?" when her mother spoke.

"Max, how did you know?"

"Wait what?" Alex cried, interrupting Max from being able to explain. "You mean we _are_ cousins?"

"We were just about to tell you when we caught you making out!" Theresa said, exasperated.

"That's not fair! You were just yelling at us for what we were doing because we're _siblings_ when you knew full well we were cousins!" Alex cried, getting angry with her mother.

"But _you_ thought you were siblings and you were still doing that!" Theresa yelled back. "The point is that you should have thought you were doing something terribly immoral and downright illegal!"

"But it didn't feel like we were! Maybe we somehow knew!"

"You should have known better!"

"But we weren't even doing anything wrong!"

"You're still cousins, you're still related! It's still wrong!"

"Actually, I've been wondering," Justin said absently. "How is it we're cousins anyway?"

Kelbo sighed and stood up. "If everyone will stop yelling for a bit," he said. "I'll explain.

"See, many years ago I was in love with a wizard woman named Emily, and she loved me, too. However, her father didn't want her to give up her powers for a man who had lost his own powers. Luckily for both of us, Jerry had met a mortal woman and wanted to give up his powers for her. So in his kindness, Jerry gave his powers to me, and Emily's father let us marry.

"We married young, but we were in love. We soon had a little boy – Justin Russo." Here the whole room looked at Justin, except for Justin, who just looked overwhelmed by the information.

"But then why -" he began.

"I'm getting to that," Kelbo said quietly, his voice cracking up. "Soon thereafter, she was diagnosed with cancer. It took her quickly, and she died." Kelbo couldn't hold back the tears, and he cried quietly while relaying the rest of the story. "Heartbroken, I felt that I couldn't even take care of our son. Jerry was my answer once again. They hadn't had children yet, and so they took you in, Justin, as their own. It was very soon after that that they had Alex, and you two were raised together, as though you were siblings, but I guess neither of you really felt like it," he added with a small smile. "And now you know the truth. Your uncle-slash-father is just a big softy, not man enough to even face his own wife's death and properly take care of his son."

Kelbo slumped back onto the couch, as though exhausted. The whole room was choked up, barely able to speak.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Theresa said, breathing heavily. "You still should have thought you were doing something wrong."

"But we're in love!" Justin argued. "Shouldn't that count for something?" Justin's eyes were welling with tears and his voice sounded like it was on the verge of breaking down, sobbing. He just wanted to be with Alex, he didn't want anyone to take her away from him. Theresa shook her head.

"Besides, aren't cousin relationships still illegal?" she said.

"Actually, no," Max chimed in. Everyone looked at him in amazement once more. "In fact, first cousins are even allowed to get married in New York. What? What's everyone looking at me like that for? Hey now, cousin Consuela is hot," he said, explaining why he knew.

"Max, you're officially my favorite brother," Alex said, smiling at him.

"Really?" Justin said dejectedly.

"You're my _cousin, _remember?" Alex reminded him, squeezing his hand again.

"Oh, yeah. That's going to take some getting used to. Wait, was I adopted as your son? I'm not sure if step-siblings are allowed together in New York."

"No," Jerry explained. "We signed papers making us your legal guardian, but as far as the state is concerned, you're still our nephew."

"They can't be socially accepted, can then?" Theresa said desperately.

"Actually Theresa, cousin relationships aren't all that uncommon, especially in the wizard world," Jerry said.

"They have my blessing, for what that's worth" Kelbo said. Alex and Justin smiled even more.

"This is weirder than the usual wizard stuff," Theresa said. "But if you two really love each other, I don't want to be the one to break you up."

Justin and Alex couldn't believe what they were hearing. Just a little bit ago they felt like they were on the verge of being disowned, and now their family was even accepting of their relationship.

"Although your mother makes a good point... and well aunt, technically, for you Justin," Jerry said. "You did start doing stuff when you thought you were siblings."

Alex bit her bottom lip.

"I don't know how I could punish you for that, though... it's not like you were doing anything harmful to one another. I don't know, it's so confusing. Well, I guess technically, something that's legal isn't illegal even if you think it is illegal, so I think we shouldn't punish you for what you did when you thought you were siblings," Jerry said. "Is that OK, Theresa?"

"I think they should still get _some_ punishment, though," she said.

"I dunno, we never forbade Justin from having girls in his room, even with the door closed," Jerry said, scratching his head. "Frankly, we never thought it would come up."

"Didn't we forbid Alex from being alone with a boy?"

"Well no, we just never let her go on any dates where it was likely that she would be," Jerry explained. "You guys found the perfect loophole." Jerry laughed. "I think though, we should set some ground rules for now on," he continued.

"Wait, does this mean you're not breaking us up?" Justin said. Alex smacked him for giving them the idea, but Jerry and Theresa looked at one another and then shook their heads.

"No, we couldn't do that," Theresa said. "But you two are not to be in one another's rooms with the door closed from now on. And we're not going to leave you two alone and unsupervised too often. Though I guess we can't avoid it entirely... I'll just have to trust that we raised you two to do the right thing. Dang it's weird working with cousin relationships!"

"So I'm still going to live here?" Justin asked.

"Yes, I think that would be the best," Kelbo said. "You're a senior in high school, after all, it wouldn't be fair to take you away right when you're almost done. Plus you'll be going to college soon and be on your own. And I couldn't have asked for a better man and woman to raise you than my brother and sister-in-law." Kelbo smiled at Jerry and Theresa, who felt a little guilty at being mad at Justin and Alex. For their part, the two cousins embraced.

"It's still weird," Theresa mumbled.

"Wait another minute," Justin said, breaking the hug. "Why did I still disappear during the Stone of Dreams ordeal?" Although the rest of them hadn't remembered it, Alex explained what had happened. Justin was taken by the time vortex after Max.

"If I hadn't given up my powers," Jerry explained. "Then Kelbo wouldn't have married Emily or had you."

"That makes sense. Wait yet another minute! We still don't know how Max knew about all this!"

"Well wasn't it obvious?" Max said, coming all the way down the stairs. "I read through the letters and figured out that they must have been to Uncle Kelbo because mom never calls dad by any affectionate nicknames except 'cuddlebug' and that wasn't one of the ones used. Plus, dad wouldn't have an affair with a wizard woman after giving up his powers for mom, so it rather ruled out the letters being for dad at all, because I don't think dad would have an affair with anyone, well, except for maybe with Eva Longoria Parker but I don't think she would take him."

"Hey!" Jerry said, but Theresa smacked him.

"So I figured they were for Uncle Kelbo, from a wizard woman whose father wouldn't let her marry a man without his powers, and from there I deduced what happened."

"OK, so how did you know Justin was Uncle Kelbo's son?" Alex asked.

"Well, once I realized that Uncle Kelbo had been in love, earlier clues began to fall into place. Consider the powerful invisible gem. Uncle Kelbo claimed he got it from a friend who didn't have children. But that kind of thing really should stay in the family, so I figured that the 'friend' was Uncle Kelbo's late wife, most likely the same woman from the letters, and that Uncle Kelbo actually _was_ keeping the artifact in the family."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Alex asked, somewhat annoyed.

"I thought you knew. I mean it was obvious to me, and you know how I am," Max replied.

Alex held her head in her palm. "Well, all's well that ends, anyway," she said.

"You know, it does feel good to have this out in the open!" Kelbo exclaimed, jumping up from his spot. "Come on everyone, big group hug!" The whole family gathered in the center of the room in a giant group hug, with Justin and Alex holding one another in the middle.


	11. Epilogue and Postlog

Epilogue

"Aww, do we _have to_?" Alex whined, the next day at school. Justin looked at her sternly.

"It'd be best to get it out now, rather than later."

"All right, all right," she said. She inhaled and walked over to Harper, who was standing by her locker. Justin went with her for backup.

"Harper, we have some news for you," Alex said. Harper furrowed her brow.

"What is it?" she said.

"Justin and I, it turns out, aren't siblings."

"One of you was adopted or something?" Harper sounded confused.

"Yes. In fact, Justin is my Uncle Kelbo's son," Alex explained.

"Oh! So you're cousins."

"Yeah. Good, glad we had this talk," Alex said, turning around. Justin spun her back around to face Harper once again.

"Right... there's one more thing," Alex said, nervously. "We're actually, kind of...dating."

"What? Who? You and me? That's weird. I'm not a -"

"What, no, Harper! It's Justin."

"Oh, so Justin is dating someone and you didn't want me to feel upset," Harper reasoned, not quite grasping that Alex meant Justin was dating her.

"Justin is dating me," Alex said, flatly and simply. Harper looked even more confused.

"But you're cousins," she said.

"It's legal!" Alex defended. "And not all that uncommon."

There was a brief, but intensely awkward silence.

"Are you like, mad at me?" Alex said timidly.

"Hmm? What? Oh, no, just trying to wrap my head around the cousin couple thing," Harper responded.

"Even though I took the guy you liked?"

"Well..." Harper looked at Justin. "I think I can handle it."

Just then, Zeke walked down the hall, and smiled at Harper. Harper smiled back.

"Milady?" Zeke said to Harper, extending his arm. Harper took it, still smiling.

"Bye guys!" Harper said as she walked off with Zeke.

"Oh yeah, she's going to be OK," Justin said, smiling, and holding Alex from behind. Alex put her own hands over Justin's, and she felt right.

Postlog

There you have it, Family Secrets has come to a close! It ended up being shorter than I had originally thought, but still twice as many words as Switch and Bait! I'm still really in the mood to do more writing, though I'm torn between a sequel to this, where Justin and Alex start the trials and tribulations of being a cousin couple, a sequel to Switch and Bait where Justin has to confront his feelings for Alex and Mikayla simultaneously tries to figure out what happened to her, or a slight series of episode rewrites for Hannah Montana and The Suite Life where I take on the role of certain old rich guys, except make it funnier. (I know, putting yourself in fanfictions is lame, but blah, I could be funnier, I swear!)

As for this story, I'd like to deeply apologize. I kind of misled you, intentionally, when I said "Oh, think about the tragedy of them loving each other when they're actually siblings!" because I had known from the start that they were going to turn out to be cousins. That was, in fact, the whole point of the story. It's also why I wanted people who liked the idea of Jalex, but not the sibling incest, to read it, because it's not sibling incest. It's cousin consanguinity, but that can hardly be called incest, if you ask me. Indeed, first cousin relationships are completely legal in New York, even to the extent of marriage! Cousins only have about a 2% greater chance of having genetic problems if they breed, by the way, which is the same risk an over-40 year old woman has if she has children, but no one complains about them having kids! It is, in my opinion, as unfair to cousin couples as it is to homosexuals, to deny them their love. I'd also like to note that cousin couples aren't banned in the Bible, either.

But I digress. The reason I really wanted them to be cousins is so that they could be together. I typically dislike the "Oh, one of them is adopted" plot line, but I've been reading so many sad, tragic tales of Jalex woe lately that I just wanted them to be able to be together. I couldn't make them entirely unrelated, because I feel that is part of the attraction to their tale. So I compromised.

In any event, I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
